Strife
by iknowthewords
Summary: Circumstances leave Reno working with Cloud and Tifa, of all people. The cycle of corruption makes itself evident, and it seems Shinra has left its deepest mark in everyone. And when Reno is dealt the hand he can't play...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy, or anything else in this piece of work. I think I mention other things that I do not own, and I am too lazy to cite each one, so I will say that every product, trademark, quote, etc. mentioned/used belong to their respective companies. AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've revised/reformatted all the older chapters since they were showing up odd on my new web browser... hopefully I won't need to do this again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Chapter 1**

A light drizzle had left everything dark and shiny, and the streetlights gave off trickles of light, like golden paint, that spilled out into the streets and swirled down the vents. And overhead the stars twinkled and the seashore can be heard from the distance. And standing off to the side stood a tall and lanky figure, almost completely obscured by the darkness. The city light had cast shadows over his eyes and the crooked smile on his face was barely discernible in the dark. He reached down and tried to smooth out his (atrociously) wrinkled shirt, though it did little to make it any better. But it didn't seem to bother him. Rather jovially, he inhaled the thick city air.

Ah, Junon. The city that never sleeps.

At least...not for the lowlifes, anyway.

He stepped out of the darkness, and Reno (as the figure turned out to be), with a spring in his step, headed toward -- you guessed it -- the bar. Well, there really wasn't much else for him to do nowadays. About a year ago, Shinra had miserably collapsed, and soon after that Midgar also went down, taking his job along with it. There'd be no more missions, no new assignments for him or the other Turks, whom he hadn't talked to in quite a while. Unfortunately for our misguided friend, all his "missions" nowadays involve getting tanked.

He set foot in the pub. The place had a laid-back atmosphere, which was what he liked so much about it. It was lit with blue lights and black ceiling fans overhead rotated lazily on low. A few people were scattered here and there; it wasn't too busy. He briefly remembered the people he used to come here with, then pushed the memory from his mind, determined not to let it ruin his mood. He was successful.

Reno took a seat at the bar and ordered a beer, feeling mighty fine. After taking a swig, he leaned back and idly looked around the place. In one area there were people playing darts, whom he didn't know but recognized, for they frequented this bar as he did. He noticed some drunk people at the tables, then his gaze fell upon the far corner, where he saw...

...oh, no.

Reno quickly turned back around, tried to look as if he hadn't seen or noticed them, tried to look busy drinking, tried to carry on a conversation with the guy sitting a couple of stools away from him...then immediately noticed the man was passed out cold, sprawled over the counter. He doubted this one-sided conversation with an unconscious guy charade would work, but he hoped it would. He also hoped that they didn't recognize him, maybe mistook him for someone they didn't know. But he didn't look much different than he did the last time they saw him; he was still Reno, the same old redheaded, unkempt Reno. And he knew that _he'd_ seen _them_ and _they'd_ seen _him_. He was starting to feel very anxious.

He could feel their approach, and -- soon enough -- a surprisingly firm grip on his shoulder, then a pull to spin his stool around until he faced them.

He did not want to face these people, he did not want to deal with them. Reno glanced one more time at the unconscious lowlife next to him and desperately wished he would wake up and scream incoherently about being bayoneted to death by one-legged midgets (like he had done once before), causing a diversion so Reno could sneak past them and out the bar to safety.

But, of course, the stupid bum didn't. Reno would have to bite the bullet and deal with these people whom he wanted nothing to do with anymore.

Having lost it completely, he salvaged his usual mellow composure. "You know," he said coolly as possible. "it's really unnecessary to wear sunglasses inside at night." He kept his aquamarine gaze on Rude, who was standing in front of him next to Elena.

With his sunglasses on, Rude's visage was difficult to read, but with the expression his eyebrows made, it was clear that he was peeved. But Elena, whose eyes shone with a certain indignation Reno had forgotten, gave him no chance to counter(that is, if Rude would have said anything at all).

"We _knew_ you'd be here!" she snapped. "Reno, what is WRONG with you? Just look at yourself! You're a mess, you're probably unemployed, and you haven't bothered contacting us in almost nine months! And here you are in a bar, getting trashed on a SUNDAY NIGHT! Have you no conscience?!"

Now at this Reno looked at Elena, then at Rude, then himself, his drink, and, having just realized it, the fact that it indeed _was_ Sunday. "Apparently... NO!" he concluded.

Though the dry sarcasm and irony in his voice was easily detectable, Elena gave him a look as if she really believed him and felt sorry for him. He didn't like that look. She gave him that same poor-Reno expression that one time when they were off duty in Wutai when he got really hammered, and in his drunken stupor, fell asleep on his nightstick and shocked himself. She looked at him like that, but of course, after she found out he was alive (and... not really WELL, but at least alive), she laughed at him. This was that same look, except she wasn't about to burst out laughing, although he sort of wished she would. He wished she weren't so seriously sympathetic because it made him feel like there really WAS something wrong with him. He hated it.

A damper had been put in his mood, considering that right in front of him stood two people whom he would rather not associate with, he felt horrible about it, and to top things off, he wasn't even close to buzzing. 

He sighed and distressfully rubbed his face. "Look, what do you people want?" he muttered.

"We need to talk," Elena replied simply, and paid the bartender for Reno's unfinished drink whilst Rude grabbed Reno, who cursed and struggled but to no avail, and dragged him out of the bar. She followed after them.

Ignoring Reno's protest, Rude wordlessly led him outside and shoved him into a nearby alley, where he released his grasp on him. It was times like these that Reno really wished he had his handy-dandy nightstick on him, but for reasons relating to the Wutai incident, he'd long since stopped carrying his weapon to wherever he would be drinking.

Elena stood next to Rude again, blocking Reno's way out of the alley. He rubbed the bruise on his arm from Rude's rough handling, and expectantly glared at Elena, looking tired and thoroughly annoyed.

"Reno," she began. "Don't you ever think about being a Turk anymore?"

He eyed her suspiciously, not sure where she was going with this.

"I mean, don't you miss the good times we had, the three -- er, four of us?"

Reno still wasn't sure what she was getting at, but he was certain that they didn't come find him just to reminisce about their so-called "good times", at 2 in the morning... and in an _alley_, at that.

"No, I don't," he replied, keeping his voice level and generally calm. "I don't miss those days. I didn't like Tseng because I always had to do what he told me to do, and whenever he was around I had to tuck in my shirt and button my jacket. And up until he got bumped off, all you did all the time was try to impress him! And _you_, my friend," he said a little louder, pointing at Rude. "Speak in ellipses most of the time!"

Rude looked hurt. "..." he said innocently.

"Oh, shut up!" Reno yelled, losing his cool.

Elena and Rude exchanged sideways glances, both of them smirking.

Having failed to affront either of them, Reno was dissatisfied. He considered telling Rude that he looked like Mr. Clean without his sunglasses on, then scratched the idea, because he was beginning to recognize a pattern. It had always seemed that he could say just the right thing to tick someone off, and he would usually end up getting jacked in the face. He wasn't sure if it was a hidden talent of his, or just coincidence, and he didn't feel like testing it out on Rude, who turned out to be alot stronger than he remembered. Rubbing his arm again, he decided not to say anything more.

"Reno, we just want you back with us." Elena said gently.

Now Reno was just plain confused. With a perplexed look on his face, he narrowed his eyes and blinked, taking in what she just said. "Why...?" he asked, sotto voce.

She just gave him that compassionate stare.

Reno's voice went up a decibel or two. "Do I look that desperate to you people?!" From the expression on both of their faces, he realized that he shouldn't have asked.

Elena bit her lip. "Um... have you looked at yourself in a while? You're using some old twine to hold your pants up."

Reno didn't need to look at himself, he was already well aware of that, and didn't seem to appear very ashamed of it. "So? I had to sell my belt."

They glared at him.

"What, you would rather I mugged somebody?"

They continued to glare at him.

Giving in, Reno sighed. "Okay, okay... maybe I'm in a tight spot... financially. But say I did get back with you. I suppose we'd be the Turks again, but what would we do then? We can't just run around in our business suits -- by the way, I lost mine -- doing what we did like back in the 'good old days', and still expect pay. We aren't even under contract with anyone--"

"Yes we are," Elena cut in.

Reno looked at her in mock compassion, as if she were a mutinous five-year old. "Elena, I don't know if you remember it or not, but about a year ago when Meteor -- you know, that huge freakin' rock that threatened to destroy the planet -- hit Midgar, it went BOOM, and so did the Shinra building and all the legal documents. I'm not sure if you realize it, but a huge pile of scrap metal can't order us around, let alone, offer us much of a salary."

After dealing with Reno for the few years she'd worked with him, Elena had become immune to his sarcastic insults, and neglected to make a big deal out of what he'd just said. "We have a potential employer at the head of the new energy corporation..." she said instead. "Haven't you heard of it?"

Reno, who must not have read the paper or watched the news in a very long time, slowly shook his head, barely believing his ears. He could feel the blood rush from his face, and he was glad that it was too dark for them to see that he had gone pale. This news was unsettling to him for some odd reason, and he didn't allow himself to wonder why. 

But he was adamant to keep whatever was left of his dignity. The whole time he was a Turk, he'd been nonchalant about his job, laid back; so self-contained. Well, that was partially due to the emotional training they'd all received. But as a Turk, dignity was almost as important as all of that. Elena and Rude had never seen him sink so low, and he never wanted them to see him like this. And what really bothered him was that they didn't look surprised. So he tried to show them that he was the same collected, composed Reno he'd always been (although he wasn't necessarily succeeding at it).

"So...we'd work for them?" he asked slowly. Elena nodded.

Reno didn't say anything; he stood there with a look of skepticism on his face, with maybe a trace of uncertainty.

Elena noticed, and questioned him. "What's the matter, Reno? Not up for it these days?" Rude inquiringly raised an eyebrow, amused. Both of them knew that Reno couldn't say no, whether it was true or not; he had to protect his reputation, damaged as it may have been at that time, but he wouldn't admit that, either.

He laughed rather dryly. "Of course I am," he replied, and the corner of his mouth, which had stretched into somewhat of a wry grin, faded slowly, and he returned to his initial skepticism. "What about money?" He asked incredulously, maintaining his cool. If it was anything that motivated someone to be a Turk other than to just be a somebody, it was that whole money factor. Perhaps it didn't need to be pointed out, but the Turks were paid very, very well. Working a risky job like that, it's only expected that you receive alot of gil.

"They showed us some figures," Elena told him. She nodded at Rude, and he took out a slip of paper and held it out for Reno. "They're pretty impressive."

He gave her one more cynical glance, then took the slip. Immediately his eyes widened in shock. This was more than he got annually working for Shinra! He began to feel lightheaded (and kind of giddy) at the thought of obtaining that much gil, which had many zeros on it, even for a little piece of paper.

He even let out a little squeak, which... might not have been the coolest thing to do, on his part.

But he didn't seem to notice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author's Note: Author's Note: Okay kids, that's the first chapter (of my first fic)! I suppose a plotline like this one would be pretty easy for anyone to think up, but I plan on taking a slightly different route....you'll see. I started writing it a few weeks ago during spring break, when I was bored outta my mind...it gave me something to do, anyway, and I'm having fun with it. 

Anyhow...it won't center completely around Reno, as AVALANCHE will eventually come into the picture....but in the meantime i could use some encouragement. Reviews, people, reviews. Tell me what you think. Thanks ! 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Elena stood at the foot of the bed, staring at the tangled mass of sheets and blankets that she could barely make out in the darkness. "Reno," she said to it. "Wake up." Her clear, loud voice shattered the silence, but it failed to wake, or disturb him. Elena leaned forward and repeated it, much louder this time, but it still couldn't rouse him awake. Reno made no motion other than the heaving movement caused by his deep breathing.

She stood back up straight, and sighed. Reno, who must not have had to wake up this early in a LONG time, would have to make some major changes to his sleeping schedule. And Rude, who had joined Elena on her mission to wake him up, picked up the nightstick that was propped up against the wall and pointed to it, suggesting that maybe they'd shock him awake. Elena shook her head no, that wasn't necessary. All out of ideas, Rude shrugged in agreement and put the nightstick back down.

Elena went up to the windows and drew the curtains back, letting the morning light break in and vivify the room. The transition from dark to light was so drastic and bright that Elena had to shield her eyes. And Reno, actually making a positive response, groaned and covered his face.

Coming around to the bed, Elena pulled the covers back and yelled in his face to get up, which only made Reno make an irritated expression, roll over and mumble unintelligibly, still pretty much asleep. The Turks did not have any more time to waste; they had to be getting somewhere soon, and they wouldn't be late if Reno would just get up now. In a fit of frustration, Rude grabbed him and shook him violently, and even though Reno was wide awake by now, Elena beat him over the head with a pillow, just for good measure.

The pillow really seemed to do it, though. "Okay, okay!" Reno yelled, a little more than flustered. "I'm up!" He tried to glare at Elena but she was in the direction of the window, and just as quickly as he glanced that way he turned his head back. The blinding light made his head hurt... or was it Rude's shaking him that did that? Either way... practically being bludgeoned awake isn't exactly a Minute Maid start to the day.

And for a second he'd forgotten where he was, and what we was doing there... then it all came back to him. They were still in Junon, only in a hotel... which was much better quality than his apartment was, he was sorry to admit. His old place was crummy and cheap, with multicolored carpeting that made him think of nothing other than two words: psychedelic _puke_. It looked okay on the outside, but when he went back in to retrieve his nightstick and a few other odds and ends, Reno was too ashamed to let Elena and Rude see the interior of it, so he made them wait outside. Well, considering that by the end of last night he had little more than a fragment of dignity remaining, he did not want to give them any more cause to shake their heads in pity. Reno was very glad to ditch that joint.

He might have even been glad to be around Elena and Rude again. At least his life had some direction in it, now. He'd been reluctant to rejoin them, but he wasn't so much that anymore... at least, he didn't think he was.

"Ugh," he mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "what time is it...?"

He looked up, and it was then that he realized that they were wearing their business suits. Reno didn't think he'd ever see Rude or Elena dressed like that again; on the other hand, he didn't think _he_ would be dressed like that, either. They threw him the same clothes. "It's time for us to get going," Elena told him, and she and Rude left the room so he could get ready.

Reno didn't get up quite yet. He stared down at the clothes, exhaled deeply, and closed his eyes. His messy hair, which was normally a deep, rich scarlet color, was turned bright red by the sunlight that still poured in through the window. He sighed again, trying everything in his power not to question himself. He didn't want to think, which he'd had plenty of time for the past eight or so months, and convinced himself that he wasn't going to go back to being a Turk again...yet here he was, having convinced himself the complete opposite, that it _belonged_ this way. And why exactly that was, Reno did not want to explore. He aimed to resolve it then and there.

_No, this is it_, he thought, rubbing his face again. _I'm not turning back_.

He came to that conclusion, and got up. Reno had managed to shove the thought from his conscience, but it did not completely bring him peace, because the doubt continued to gnaw at the very back of his mind.

*~*~*~*~* 

Even in midmorning, Junon was an incredibly busy city. Crowds of pedestrians rushed back and forth, too absorbed in their own affairs to pay any attention to the three people standing off to the side, who greatly stuck out from the rest of them. Blue suits, black ties and sunglasses, they were a visual anomaly in this picture; a stationary blue mass almost engulfed by the otherwise unremarkable groups of people passing by. The sun shone particularly bright(hence the sunglasses, although Reno wore them because he thought they made him look cooler and more mysterious), and turned the concrete of the streets white. Seagulls loitered overhead, then soared down to the crashing ocean waves that reflected the cloudless sky. Reno noticed that the water looked much more, uhh... _blue_, since the last time he cared to acknowledge it, which had been awhile. And he didn't remember the seagulls being there before. Oh well, it looked as if everything had been able to heal itself since Weapon and Meteor.

Most everything.

The Turks pushed their way past people, weaved in between some crowds, excused themselves curtly(like the civilized, dignified people they were) and then a certain huge building was in sight, one that Reno had never seen before. Rude pointed it out to him, as it was their destination. This was it; the new energy corporation they'd told him about: Zadoc Corp.

Reno felt the slightest chill just looking up at it, then reminded himself that this was no Shinra. Nothing like it.

They'd filled him in on the details last night, although he wasn't really listening. But he did take that the place was popular with everyone, because they didn't use mako but solar power, or some other 'earth-friendly' energy source, and because of this, those dangerous reactors weren't necessary. So nobody protested when the company came out. 

The interior reminded him vaguely of Shinra, too; it had many floors. And he even recognized some people from before. One man he saw walk by...well, he couldn't get a very good look at him, but he could have sworn it was Reeve. 

They went to the front desk(which was on the first floor, thankfully), and much to their dismay, they were told that the company wasn't convinced that they could still do the job, in spite of their resume. They would have to take a 'test' to confirm that. Reno didn't really think this was necessary -- of course they were still up for it -- but oh well, he was willing to do whatever was needed to get the job.

They were first tested on their abilities with weapons; for example, one of them was sharpshooting, in which they simply kicked butt. Although Reno's principle weapon was the nightstick, he had been trained to know how to operate a variety of other weapons. He hit every target in the bullseye(if not, at least very close) and the Zadoc executives were impressed. One of them, who was a little younger than Reno, was in awe. "You're awesome!" he exclaimed as Reno handed the gun to Rude, who was going next.

Reno looked at him, a cocky smirk on his face. "I _know_ I am," he replied smugly.

The kid's face fell. He lowered his voice to a dry mumble and added, "Modest, too." Fortunately, Reno did not hear this.

The Turks had to go through a bunch of other stuff, and easily proved themselves worthy of the job. If anything, they were OVER-qualified for it. But whatever... if what the company wanted was proof, that was certainly what they got.

Rude, Elena and Reno weren't kept in the waiting room for long. An executive came out and told them that -- big surprise -- they were hired, and there were already some missions in line for them. Now that, Reno _didn't_ expect. He exchanged glances with Elena and Rude, and they followed the executive into a room.

*~*~*~*~* 

Reno was abnormally quiet on their way out. He did not look up at Rude or Elena; he had a blank expression on his pale face, and looked as if he were suppressing something... of course he was. But he didn't say a word until they were out of the building.

"No way, no friggin' way!" it burst out of him as soon at they'd passed through the exit. "This sucks. I'm not doin' it."

Oh yes, they'd received their mission briefings, alright. Key word: BRIEFINGS. They weren't going to work together, at least not this time. Well, Elena and Rude were working on the same thing, but Reno was on his own. He had his own stupid mission of going around looking at old mako reactors to make sure there wasn't any "suspicious activity". What the heck kinda mission is that?! And Reno wasn't completely on his own, either. Oh, no. As if it wasn't bad enough, Reno would have to go around looking at old reactors with...

"AVALANCHE," he said it slowly, in disbelief. "AVALANCHE! Elena, you didn't tell me we're employed by the same company!"

"I didn't know!" she retorted. "I was just as surprised as you were--"

Reno interrupted, ignoring her reply. "How can they expect me to work with those people? If my memory serves me right, we've tried to kill them, what, five times? No, wait, maybe I had too many _concussions_ and miscounted."

_Why ME?_ He thought, _Why did it have to be me?_ After Reno had been informed of his mission, he was too shocked to pay much attention to what Rude and Elena were being told to do. But he did get that they were going to do something equally lame, only they were going to Costa Del Sol for it.

"I'm no freakin' inspector!" he continued to complain, "I set bombs, exploded stuff, and did other cool things, but _nooo_..." it went on like this for a while, until Elena couldn't take it anymore. "Oh, please, Reno!" she yelled finally. "You can't do anything about it; you can't back down on this now. Just suck it up. Deal with it."

Reno shot a glare at her. "You're just saying that because you don't have my job. You get to go to paradise!"

Elena sighed. "No, I'm not. Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot with them--" (Reno rolled his eyes...THAT was an understatement) "--but we're not enemies. We never were. AVALANCHE was just a failed mission, nothing more. We had nothing personal against them, we just had to do our jobs as Turks. And you should know better than to let the past get in the way of what you have to do now." Her voice got a little more gentle. "Just do your job, Reno. It's not like they're not asking you to be friends with them."

They walked on in silence, in the now almost-empty streets. Reno stared at the ground, his hands stuffed into his pockets. He would have shot back a reply, but he remained taciturn, not only because he was still in an overall bad mood, but because Elena was right.

*~*~*~*~* 

It was the next day, and Reno was in his hotel room getting his stuff together so he could leave for his dreaded mission. He was too busy to notice that Elena and Rude had come in to bid him farewell. Elena didn't say anything yet, just observed him.

He was dressed in civilian clothes, a bit on the wrinkly side, but that had become his trademark. He looked like the same old Reno she'd always known, except for one thing...there was a cigarette dangling from his lip. Elena sadly shook her head. This was another pleasant addiction Reno had developed since the last time she saw him.

"You're not supposed to smoke in this hotel, you know." she informed him.

He looked over at Elena and Rude, not looking too surprised (or happy) to see either of them. He had a tired, annoyed expression on his face that told her he could care less.

She sighed. "Don't tell me you're not feeling any better about..."

"Of course I'm not," he said, cracking open a window to let the smoke out. His voice took on a mutinous tone. "I still think it sucks." He looked back at her for a second, then looked down. "...but I'm not gonna complain about it anymore."

Elena stared at the floor, too. "You'll live. Cloud can't be that bad. Unless you're intimidated by him..."

He raised his eyebrows. "Intimidated?"

"Well, you know, what with that big sword and all..."

Reno snorted. "Please, it's an oversized _butcher knife_. If it were any smaller he'd look more like he should be cutting some cilantro with it."

At that thought, Rude briefly wondered if Cloud had ever considered pursuing a career of the culinary arts.

Probably not.

Reno slung his duffel bag over his shoulder, and went up to the door. "I'm gonna get going," he told them, sounding a little more light-hearted. "If I don't come back, avenge my death."

Elena smiled to herself. That was what they used to tell each other back then, before leaving for a mission. And here they were, getting back into the old groove. They were the Turks, again. Not that they had ever stopped, but... it was just like old times, disregarding some of the blatant differences. She did not want to lose this again.

"Reno."

He turned around. "What?"

"You're gonna be gone for a while," she said, sounding a little tentative. "Don't make friends with them, or anything..."

He stared at her, blinking a few times, disbelieving that she'd even _think_ he'd do that. The corner of his mouth curled up into a crooked, semi-cocky, confident grin. "Don't worry, I _won't_," he said, turned, and was out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Author's Note: That concludes chapter 2! (Hmm, did anyone sense some foreshadowing in there?) I appreciate the reviews, people. Oh yeah, and don't worry, they're not gonna be enemies...I hope I clarified that in this chapter...but with Reno's smart mouth, you can't NOT expect a conflict or two. I upped the rating, not so much for this chapter, but for later ones to come.....although that's as high as it'll go. And I know it didn't take long for me to get this chapter up, but I just want to say that no matter how long it will take, I do not intend on ditching this project. I want to stick with it. But only if you think it's good........so REVIEW!!! 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Reno sat back in the swivel chair, his feet propped up on the desk, as he held a black permanent marker and balanced a magazine in his lap. On the cover of it was the face of the overnight president Rufus Shinra, who now had crossed eyes, a unibrow, and three teeth._

"Heheheheh..." Reno's shoulders heaved with every insidious chuckle as he scribbled a crude mullet hairdo on Rufus' head.

It really didn't need to be said -- although he'd readily admit it -- he hated the rich little punk! Thinking he was all that and a bag of chips just because his old man died and made him president... he was even younger than Reno was! Well, only by a... couple months or so, but it was the principle of the thing. Earlier that day, he'd seen Rufus wink at a Shinra secretary, who looked so lovestruck she could have just fainted, and Reno felt so nauseated he could have just projectile vomited in Rufus' pretty-boy face. You could call it envy if you wanted to(although Reno would never admit to that), but he hated him nonetheless.

He repeatedly stabbed at Rufus' face with the marker tip, then held it up and admired the atrocious picture as if it were an artistic masterpiece. "Who's the most eligible bachelor now_?" he triumphantly asked Rufus, who now looked like a disoriented hick with a horrid acne problem. Reno couldn't draw any better than a 6 year old, but that only seemed to enhance the overall grotesqueness of the Shinra president's face. Reno tossed his head back and laughed out loud._

Childish, it was, yet also terribly satisfying. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't just walk up to Rufus and mess up his face without costing him his job, so this was the next best thing.

Reno admired his work a little longer, then looked up, only to see Tseng in the doorway of the office. Immediately he hid the magazine and his attitude sobered up; he didn't allow himself to look surprised to see him. And Tseng, looking mildly bothered, glanced around his office. "What did you do_ in here?"_

Reno did not answer him directly. His voice reduced to a lazy drawl. "You kept me waiting here forever_."_

Tseng didn't apologize. "I had an hour-long emergency meeting..." he witnessed a very bored Reno lethargically spin around in the swivel chair, then added, "You know, you can always do this stuff in your own_ office."_

Reno stopped to face him, and frowned and crossed his arms. "They wouldn't give_ me my own office," he mumbled._

Tseng looked at the empty pencil cup on his desk, then up at the pencils that were all stuck in the ceiling. "I can see why," he observed.

"What did you want me in here for, anyway?" Reno asked, sounding like he could really care less. He attempted to balance his nightstick on his nose, and carefully leaned back and put his feet up on Tseng's desk again.

Tseng blinked at him, his expression somewhat blank. "Actually, I was going to talk to you about your childish antics and pranks you've been playing around the company."

Caught off guard, Reno swiftly brought his head down to look at him, nightstick crashing to the floor. "...'childish antics_?'" he repeated, looking at Tseng in disbelief._

He nodded. "Palmer's inbox was suspiciously flooded with weight-loss emails..." he said slowly. "You wouldn't happen to know who did that, would you?"

Reluctant to reply, Reno stared at him blankly, wondering if Tseng was just asking him if he knew, or was really suspecting that he did it. (Sometimes he could swear that dot on Tseng's forehead changes colors when he gets angry... but then again, that might be because Reno could become simple-minded, easily amused, and very imaginative in the incredibly boring times between missions, when there is nothing to do around the Shinra HQ.) Then Tseng gave him a don't-play-stupid look, and Reno's expression fell, annoyed with the fact that they had made such a big deal out of it.

"Come on," he said defensively. "I was doing the guy a favor. Just by looking at him, you can tell he abuses the privilege to put lard in his tea. I thought he'd be interested in some weight-loss newsletters." Reno looked at Tseng innocently, having neglected to tell him that he and Rude(while laughing maniacally) had signed Palmer up for about a dozen weight-loss accounts the other day. 

Tseng glared at him, not buying his story.

Reno pretended to look baffled. "What, you're implying that he doesn't appreciate them?" When Tseng's expression did not change, Reno sighed and acquiescently slumped forward. "Oh, you people have no sense of humor."

The head Turk shook his head and exhaled deeply, sounding as if there was alot more on his mind than what they were just discussing. "No, it's not that... it's not that at all. You really shouldn't be doing this now. They're cross with us as it is." 

Actually beginning to show concern, Reno slowly cocked his head to one side. "Why?"

"We failed our last mission..."

"...oh, yeah." Frowning, Reno acknowledged his bitter resentment for AVALANCHE, recalling the very recent events concerning the Sector 7 plate, which failed to take them out, and only turned out to be a waste of money.

"We actually had them under our custody," Tseng continued, staring off, it seemed, at nothing in particular. "and we failed yet again; they escaped. In spite of all the reinforcements, in spite of everything we threw at them, we failed to keep them in this building. That might not have been our fault, considering the circumstances... mainly, Sephiroth. But still, our reputation has suffered because of these failures. We can no longer afford to be incompetent. This time," he said, determination clear in his voice. "we will get the Ancient back, and we will_ kill AVALANCHE, once and for all."_

Ironic that they never did. It was the only mission they never accomplished: the annihilation of AVALANCHE, and permanent custody of the only remaining Ancient.

*~*~*~*~* 

He emerged at the top of the hill as the wind whipped around him, a little more than just a light zephyr; it parted his hair in a thousand places, concealing his eyes. Annoyed with it, he shook his head and brushed his hair from his face. Squinting in the sun, he looked over Kalm, the homely little town practically in the middle of nowhere. It looked like an ideal place to raise kids, like those sunny little pleasant towns you'd see on TV, or something like that. It didn't surprise him at all that tree-hugging AVALANCHE would reside here.

The wind let up for a moment, leaving a tousled strand of hair in Reno's face. He stood there for a second, making no movement, still looking out over the town, then raised his chin, parted his lips and blew it out of the way. Feeling apprehension resurface, he tried to shake it off, logically reasoning with himself. Regardless of everything he told himself, he didn't want to do this. But he'd come this far; it wasn't as if he could turn back now, anyway.

With that conclusion, Reno began his descent down the hill, but not without hesitating.

*~*~*~*~* 

"Tell me again why you're leaving?"

Tifa closed her eyes and sighed, thinking to herself that she'd already told him why about a hundred times already. She then looked up at a very sad-looking Johnny, who had a look on his face that clearly told her that he didn't want her to go.

She didn't really want to leave, either.

"I've already told you why," she replied gently. "We have to." When she realized from his expression that that didn't make for much consolation, she reasoned, "But it's not like we're going to be gone _permanently_... we will come back, you know..."

Since meteor, the members of AVALANCHE had gone their separate ways. Tifa and Cloud, however, didn't have any place to go back to, and they weren't about to go back to Nibelheim... for some obvious reasons. And they weren't about to detach themselves from each other, either. So they went back to Kalm, and Tifa bought the old bar there and reopened 7th Heaven, just for old time's sake. About six months ago, they'd crossed paths with their old friend Johnny (yet again), hired him, and here they were, right in this bar. This would be Tifa's last time in a while to clean it up, or even set foot in it. Johnny would be watching the place while they were gone.

"...I know." he sounded more reassured, yet still not completely. "I'm just worried--"

Tifa shook her head. "Don't be! Besides, your birthday is coming up soon, you shouldn't have to worry about anything."

Johnny twisted his face wryly. "That's not completely true." Having just finished sweeping the floor, he went over to the closet in the back room to put the broom away.

"What?" Tifa asked. "What's the problem?"

He came back into the room, and looked at her, a smile cracking on his face in anticipation of what he was going to say. "...pajamas." he replied simply.

Tifa laughed, hardly believing her ears. "_Pajamas?_"

"Yes! I know, it sounds _ridiculous_." he sat on one of the stools in front of the bar counter that Tifa was wiping off. "But my family must always insist on buying me pajamas for my birthday, and on the holidays, too. It's too much, really. I mean, thank you, they're lovely pajamas, but--" he reached over and helped her wipe off an area of the counter she couldn't quite reach. "--really, I don't know why they're so concerned about my nighttime apparel."

He knew it. He was rambling about something insignificantly stupid and inane. But it made her laugh, which was really what he'd sought to do. The past few days she'd seemed uptight, anxious. It felt good to finally relieve some of that stress, and Johnny could see that. And in turn, it made him feel a little better himself. "Hey, childhood friend," he'd remembered telling Cloud once before. "take care of Tifa."

That was Johnny, always looking out for her.

*~*~*~*~* 

Since he'd entered the town, Reno took his sweet time walking slowly, and mumbling and grumbling and cursing under his breath. More than ever he wished that Elena hadn't talked him into joining them so they could work for that stupid dorky energy corporation. But then of course, if he hadn't, he would still be in Junon at this moment, waking up to a nasty hangover on the puke-colored carpet in his crummy apartment. If not the apartment, he'd be waking up in a ditch. He'd done that a few times before, too.

Reno grimaced, realizing what a loser he'd become since he'd lost his job. But he felt like an even _bigger_ loser doing what he was doing now.

Stupid tree-hugging energy corporation.

Stupid Elena and her logic.

Stupid AVALANCHE.

He hoped they weren't famous... but considering that they saved the world, that was a good possibility. But he wouldn't believe it. Not until they day they start making fruit snacks resembling the members of AVALANCHE would Reno believe that they were famous.

His nihilistic train of thought was shattered when he was hit in the ear with a soccer ball. He gritted his teeth, looked over and saw some kids laughing at him. It took Reno everything in his power to resist pulling out his nightstick and and frying the little punks. He glared daggers at them, though, and that shut them up.

Reno turned and bitterly walked on, dragging his feet on the brick ground.

*~*~*~*~* 

"I should get going..." Johnny said, looking up at the clock on the wall. "Later, Tif'."

"...bye." She watched as he closed the door behind him.

Tifa took one long, last look around the bar. Cloud would be here soon. And so would... you-know-who.

She had no idea why they decided to stick her and Cloud with... with... _him_! Everyone in AVALANCHE had gone their own ways; back home, to right the wrongs in their personal lives and set things straight. And then not too long ago, they'd all agreed to work together again, and they saw the new energy corporation as a good way to do that, so they all signed up. But it made no sense to her that they weren't put with anyone else from AVALANCHE. Maybe their employers just weren't aware of the past between AVALANCHE and the Turks.

That had to be it.

Tifa went over to the window and looked through it, still deep in thought. Then she heard the door open, and her head turned quickly, her heart skipping a beat in anticipation and fear of who it might be. 

Relieved, she exhaled. "Cloud...!"

"Tifa." he said, noticing her anxiety. He walked over and stood next to her, and followed her gaze through the window, at nothing in particular. "...you ready to do this?" he asked, after a short silence.

She looked down, fidgeting with her gloved hands. "Well, I'm certainly not excited about it, but I guess I'm as ready as I can be."

He nodded solemnly. "Me too."

They lapsed back into silence. But this wasn't the awkward kind of silence, where you're uneasy and fumbling for words; rather, it was the kind that said _more_ than words... calming, rather than unsettling; cherished, rather than dreaded. They found comfort in each other this way. Tifa could never have this kind of connection with anyone else, but it was during moments like these that she'd have to remind herself that after all they'd been through, after all this time... she sighed inwardly... they were still only friends.

Then she looked up at him, the early afternoon sunlight touching her black hair with gold, fringing her eyelashes, outlining the soft contours of her face. "I'd better go put these away." she said quietly, dangling the keys to the bar in front of her.

Cloud looked down at her, the light having the same effect on him. He nodded and let her go.

After she was out the door, Cloud strode over the the bar counter, the heavy scuff of his boots making the only noise in the empty room. Then he sat up on the counter and waited.

When someone did come through the door, he looked up, expecting to see the warm, friendly gaze of Tifa. But instead his eyes met with a flickering cold, narrow gaze; adamantine and spiteful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Author's Note: My goodness, that was a cheesy chapter. And I know, we didn't get very far. I think all I covered in this installment was a flashback, and, like, 15 minutes of the present time, which pretty much consisted of random harangue-ing about pajamas, and another about fruit snacks(man, that sounds really jacked up). And the rest of it was filling in the reader about what they were up to and why, and then at the very end something actually happened. I know, not much....just stick it out! You just wait for the NEXT chapter! *has devious plot twist(s) in mind*

But I ain't postin nothin', not until you REVIEW !!! 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Wordlessly, they stared at each other.

Upon seeing Cloud, Reno's eyes had immediately darkened with indignation and blame. However, he could not maintain the glare as strongly as he would have preferred to, because Cloud did not glare back. In fact, he didn't look angry or spiteful at all, which completely caught Reno by surprise. Soon enough, Reno's facial expression had melted into irritated befuddlement.

And then Cloud got up. He walked right up to him and extended his hand, which only furthered Reno's spite and confusion. 

Was this guy kidding?

From the look on Cloud's face, he was dead serious. Even still, Reno made no movement. He did not feel inclined, nor obliged, to shake Cloud's hand.

His offer to make amends rejected, Cloud withdrew his hand slowly, and eyed him more cautiously, though not with an any higher degree of vindictiveness, much to Reno's dismay. He went back to sit on the counter.

Silence followed. Reno stared at the floor bitterly, desperately wishing he was anywhere else but here, alone in a room with someone who was still very much in dire need of a comb. He was in a bar, the perfect place to inebriate his troubles, but he was on duty now, and he never drank while on a mission for some reasons. For one thing, Reno seemed to have never heard of drinking in moderation. And another, he learned the hard way that it is not wise to try to operate a nightstick while intoxicated. Oh, yes, Rude and Elena have many more tales of Reno's drunken stupor to tell. But if they were to tell anyone, they'd have to kill them. That might not be necessary, though, because they'd probably die laughing, anyway.

Reno wasn't sure which prospect would be worse; to hear about his alcoholic mishaps, or do what he was doing now. He felt like such a loser; the Turks' name seemed to be stripped of its dignity.

He glanced around the place. There was someone else who was supposed to be here...

"Where's that chick?" he demanded. He'd practically spat the words in disgust, and did so purposefully. It was his every intention to have Cloud know that he blamed him and Tifa for his being here.

Cloud looked up at him, the slightest glimmer of resentment flashing in his unnaturally blue eyes. It gave Reno satisfaction in knowing that he could tick him off. Unfortunately for Cloud, Reno did not feel like burying the hatchet; rather, he felt like sowing dragon's teeth.

But unfortunately for Reno, Cloud seemed to have gained more self-control since their last run-in with AVALANCHE. Cloud's resentful look faded almost as quickly as it had come, and he said, "She'll be back here soon." Now he didn't look so much cautious as he did distrustful.

It was another long, quiet moment that seemed like forever to Reno. He wasn't used to having to stand still for very long. He found himself wriggling with impatience and boredom, and couldn't take it anymore.

After a while, Cloud looked up again, noticing that Reno was staring directly at him. "...what?" he asked flatly, sounding mildly annoyed.

Reno's perplexed gaze remained fixed on Cloud. "I've always wanted to ask..." he said slowly, in mock wonder. "...have you ever heard of a comb?"

Cloud shot a glare back at Reno, who wasn't very average-Joe looking, himself. "Have _you_ ever heard of an _iron?"_ he retorted, sliding off the counter, onto his feet.

"Oh! you have a bed head." Sensing Cloud's mentality advance from slightly peeved to seriously annoyed and going up, Reno fed off it, seeing how far he could push. "See, I can tell which side you sleep on." He gestured to the left side of his head.

He noticed Cloud snarl and subconsciously reach for the handle of the sword strapped to his back. Reno shook his head. "You can put down the novelty butcher knife," he informed him coolly. "I think you can impale me just as easily with that hair of yours."

And Cloud promptly jacked him in the face.

*~*~*~*~* 

Tifa knew something was deeply wrong even before she opened the door to the bar. And when she did, her gut feeling was only confirmed. She saw two figures, almost blurs, rolling around on the ground punching each other. One of them was Cloud, whom she recognized immediately, but it took her a second to gather her senses and recognize the other person. All that she could really see was the flame of deep crimson, that could unmistakably be the hair of...

She was afraid this was going to happen.

Immediately she dashed over to the two, grabbed the one closest to her -- who turned out to be Reno -- and pulled him up onto his feet. He looked very surprised to see her, and so did Cloud. In a second, both of them were up; and much to Tifa's relief, neither of them looked much worse for the wear.

"What do you think you're _doing_?" she scolded. "I'm not gone for longer than ten minutes, and when I come back, you're _already_ fighting! If we're ever gonna get through this, we are not going to be at each other's throats." She crossed her arms. "Apologize."

The two said nothing, but they both continued to glare at each other, breathing deeply, one wordlessly challenging the other, neither of them wanting to be the bigger man.

"Well?" Tifa demanded.

Reno and Cloud simultaneously looked at Tifa and asserted, "He _started_ it." After hearing what the other had said, they scowled at each other. They were both tall and roughly the same height, but what with Cloud's gravity-defying hair, he looked like the taller one.

In one swift motion, Tifa reached over and knocked their foreheads together. She really didn't want to do that, especially not to Cloud, but she saw no other effective way of handling this.

In great pain, they almost keeled over, pitifully moaning, "Sorry...!" They were quick to apologize _now_. 

And suddenly the door swung open. Shocked, all three of them turned to see who it was. "Johnny!" Tifa exclaimed.

With nothing less then a look of horror on his face, Johnny ran to the back of the bar, trying not to look directly at any of them. Nearly stumbling over an overturned stool as he did, he said quickly and almost incoherently, "Sorry-to-intrude-I-just-forgot-my-jacket!"

Cloud and Reno, who had been clutching their foreheads in an obviously great deal of pain, had stopped their moaning and groaning as soon as Johnny had entered the bar, and abruptly tried to play it off by pretending to scratch their heads. Tifa sighed and rolled her eyes. _Men_.

*~*~*~*~* 

Man, why did everyone have to be stronger than he remembered?

Reno massaged his aching forehead bitterly. Tifa was very strong, for a woman who had never been exposed to mako. But for Cloud, however, it was quite obvious that he had been exposed. He barely had a medium build, and it would otherwise have been impossible for his frame to support that ridiculous butcher knife. Reno also had mako running through his veins, but it was evident that Cloud had somehow been exposed to a much higher degree than he was. Cloud's eyes glowed, but not with the typical mako glow; they had a strong sort of synthetic blue astringency. It was abnormal.

Since Cloud had such a prodigal amount of mako running through his system, wouldn't he have been able to hurl Reno against the wall? No, Reno took note that Cloud wasn't any stronger than he was; if at all, it wasn't by a significant amount. Maybe there was some sort of genetic barrier; Shinra must have known that someone could only get so much stronger before the mako stops having its effect. The next step up from that, of course, is overexposure. And mako poisoning is fatal, in virtually all cases. Reno was no scientist, but he still had some knowledge on this subject, limited as it may have been, and this was the most sense he could make of it.

It hadn't even been half an hour, but already he and Cloud had a headache and a couple of bruises to show for it. And as for the first part of their mission, they would be heading for Midgar, which was certainly no cause for rejoicing. But Reno figured if he was going go through with this, he would at least have fun while doing so. He had a feeling that pushing Cloud's buttons would soon become a favorite pastime of his.

*~*~*~*~* 

Midgar, or at least what was left of it, could be seen from as far away as Kalm. As they neared it, it became bigger and bigger, and though this was reality, it felt all the more surreal. Most of the debris had been removed since the city was destroyed, but they left the rest of the city there... for some reason that Reno was unsure of. He thought it was stupid that they left the remains... maybe because it really was irrational; maybe because he just didn't like the feeling he got looking at the place. It was darker here. Not because of the air pollution, that was long gone. But from their view, The outer walls of Midgar blocked the sun.

Reno trailed a short distance behind Cloud and Tifa, who were walking side by side, searching for the entrance. He wasn't looking forward to this at all. It was so pointless, anyway.

It took quite a long walk to reach the entrance, which was littered with big piles of debris. A solemn sort of resolve settled over the three of them. Reno stopped and looked up at the dead skeleton of a city; Midgar, the metropolis of smog and steel and... _nightmares_. He looked at it with a sort of reserved disgust, as if he loathed this place and had been happy to see it go.

Reno didn't know it at the time, but Cloud was looking at it the same way.

*~*~*~*~* 

"Wait, you're actually going in?"

Cloud turned around, mildly surprised because this was the first thing he'd heard Reno say that wasn't remotely offensive. He sensed the distressed tone in his voice. "Look, I'm not crazy about this, either, but... yes." he replied.

"Do you even know if any of the reactors are _intact_?" Reno inquired. He certainly hoped that none of them were still standing, so they wouldn't have to do anything here.

Cloud shrugged. "I guess we'll have to find that out, now, won't we?" He turned back around, and he and Tifa proceeded to walk into the city.

With much reluctance, Reno ended up following and catching up with them. The air inside Midgar was ominously heavy and cold. "You know, this whole thing is potentially dangerous." he pointed out.

Cloud shrugged again. "Orders are orders." Reno silently cursed Cloud's sense of leadership.

He looked around, getting a little more frantic. "This place doesn't look particularly stable... how can you be so sure that nothing's gonna collapse on you, or something?"

Reno had stopped, but Cloud kept walking. "That's a risk I'm willing to take." he replied.

"But that's STUPID!" Cloud seemed to pay no heed to what he'd said. Glaring, Reno watched as he went farther into Midgar.

....moron.

"Hey, Cloud!" he yelled after him. "Maybe after this and you're still up for playing the let's-all-get-ourselves-killed-game, we can play catch with MACHETES. Yeah. And if that STILL isn't enough fun, we can eat glass and go on a ROLLER COASTER RIDE!"

*~*~*~*~* 

They'd split up and had their own areas to 'inspect', although unfortunately for Reno, many of the reactors were still standing. Just barely. It had taken them awhile, too -- already, it was nightfall. No, nothing collapsed on anybody. And no, there were no signs of suspicious activity. At one point Reno thought he saw a... possum, but that was it. It's sad to say that so far, the possum (although come to think of it, it may very well have been an old shoe) was the highlight of his night.

And here he was now, sitting on a pile of debris at Midgar's entrance. Cloud wasn't too far away; he was on the other side of the entrance. They were waiting for Tifa to finish up her part of the search so they could get going. But in the meantime, Reno sat twirling his nightstick like a baton to amuse himself.

"Can you... stop that?" When Reno looked over to see a very agitated Cloud, it only gave him more reason to keep up his twirling.

"She isn't gonna find anything." Reno informed him as if he didn't know, flipping his nightstick up into the air and catching it. "This whole thing is stupid."

Cloud pretended to ignore Reno's incessant fidgeting, and said, "If it's so stupid, then what are you doing working for the corporation?"

Proudly, Reno did a little pose. "I'm a Turk. We owe allegiance to no one..." he stopped, analyzed his words, then quickly amended, "...unless they're paying us."

Cloud cocked his head in thought. "Oh? I thought the Turks ceased to exist when Midgar did." A few days ago, Reno would have thought the same thing. But apparently that wasn't true. Apparently he was tied to this for life, whether he wanted to be or not. Even though this mission was about as exciting as watching paint dry, only one factor really mattered in all this.

"Nope." Reno said. "I'm only in this for the money. And as soon as your girlfriend finishes searching scrap metal for 'suspicious activity', we're outta here." He looked over again at Cloud, who was staring at him with a weird, blank expression on his face. Reno stared back the the funny-looking blonde, confused. "What?"

If Cloud was going to answer, he certainly would not have had the time to. Because a second after Reno spoke, they both heard a sort of hollow burst, and a deafening explosion. Alarmed, they both jumped to their feet and looked back to see that part of Midgar was up in flames. The silver and steel of this city, which had laid here so long in its lifeless repose, was suddenly alive with the flickering orange-red gaze of the fire. Just watching it filled Cloud with a horrified fascination as he remembered the heat of the flames and the smell of the smoke that seared his memories of Nibelheim. For one fleeting moment it felt as if the nightmare had revisited him...

Not another thought was able to register through his mind, for he felt a forceful blow to the back of his head that he had no warning to brace for; he fell forward, and everything happened too fast to think, or even act, to defend himself. He felt something... an arm, slide around his neck and tighten, threatening to crush his windpipe. Cloud could do nothing but make vain attempts to gasp and claw at his throat, shocked and disoriented and confused as his vision blurred and he saw an approaching figure, a black silhouette that rapidly obstructed the red and orange light that burned his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: AAAAAAUUGGGHHHH !!! Sorry to stop it right there, but I had to leave some sort of hook to make you want to read more, and keep the plotline more interesting. Hey, at least it moved along in this chapter. I already have some of the next chapter written, but..... 

You know how to make me happy. 

See, if you scroll down a little farther, there's a link. No, not the one that reports abuse to the staff, the other one...the button one.

Well, you find that button, and then you click it...

.....and then you write a REVIEW !!!! 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

Considering that he was in a head lock from behind by some stranger and there was another one approaching him from the front, he couldn't breathe, and he was yards away from a flaming structure, Cloud had every cause to panic. But he didn't. He couldn't. He could barely even _think_. But in amidst all of this, all he knew was that getting air into his burning lungs was a top priority.

Barely hanging onto consciousness, Cloud closed his eyes and shut all else out from his mind. He concentrated his remaining energy into his fist as he blindly swung it behind him. After it came into contact with the stranger's face, it took a few more hits to get them to let go completely; he heard them stumble backwards. Hardly getting the chance to breathe, Cloud sensed them come back up to him, at his left side. Before his obscure adversary could make another move, he swung around and struck them again, this time knocking them to the ground.

Cloud barely had any more time to inhale, as he was caught off guard and hit again, this time from the front. Dazed and lightheaded (if he wasn't already), he stumbled backwards, inching farther back as the man before him moved in. It wasn't long before his backside hit the side of a huge pile of debris, and he couldn't fight, at least not without missing. He didn't have the time or strength to pull out his sword. Dizzy and in pain and momentarily sapped of energy, there was not much more he could do in his condition.

Pitifully, Cloud slumped against the heap of rubble and braced himself for the next hit. He watched as the man poised himself to strike, but at the very moment he was about to, a bright flash made Cloud draw back and shut his eyes by reflex. He opened them again and saw the man shaking violently, a crackling white-hot electric current running through his body. Cloud could almost feel the silvery heat from where he was. When he blinked he could see that the light had traced the image in his eyelids. It had stopped almost as soon as it had started.

An expression of pure shock stunned the man's face, and a very shaken Cloud watched him crumple to the ground deplorably; and behind him stood Reno, who was looking at his nightstick with impressed satisfaction. Cloud would have thanked him, but he didn't have the breath to. His face said it all, anyway.

Reno acknowledged Cloud's gratefulness and irritably waved it away.

Cloud took a moment to catch his breath, wondering not only what happened, but what they were going to do next. Then a sudden thought exchanged through his mind, and he barely uttered the word "Tifa" before dashing off past Reno, his boots hollowly thudding the ground, picking up a trail of dust as he ran through the entrance and into Midgar.

*~*~*~*~* 

Reno gave an endearing glance it his beloved nightstick, and another at his handiwork: the unconscious, occasionally thrusting, half-fried man at his feet. _That's gonna leave a little more than a mark_, he thought.

He hadn't done this in a long time. And MAN, it felt good.

Reno whirled around, the glow of the flames reflecting off his eyes in a lively glimmer as they traced the path Cloud took into Midgar. It turned out that only a small part of one side of the city was on fire, but it was enough to faintly illuminate the whole area. He slowly walked forward, his eyes closed, a rare look of serenity on his face. A truly content smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, then he opened his eyes and broke into a run. No time to ponder the thousand questions at hand, no time to heed the dangers there may be. He began to follow Cloud's path into the city, his ponytail of blazing red hair trailing in the air behind him. In this moment he feared nothing, and felt not even the slightest pang of reluctance, as he was driven by the overwhelming, exhilarating rush of adrenaline he hadn't felt for too long.

He hadn't taken ten paces when another one of those guys jumped out in front of him, and Reno briefly wondered where the heck these people come from. The deranged psycho took a swing at him, which he dodged with little effort. In one swift motion, he brought his nightstick down and struck him across the collarbone with a rather satisfying _crack_. Reno watched him fall like a ton of bricks, then nonchalantly stepped over him. _This is just too easy_, he thought to himself. He was only too happy to see that he hadn't lost his touch.

On his way he encountered a few more of these blithering fools. One of them actually reached out and tried to take his weapon; after a few vain attempts to make him let go, Reno noticed he had a good grip on it, too. But when he realized which end of the nightstick the moron had his grip on, a knowing half-grin appeared on Reno's face and he pushed a handy-dandy button, shocking his contender instantly. The rest of his enemies he executed with great ease and skill, and Reno was sure to make them sorry they ever crossed his path. And he would have been able to evade the guy with the crowbar, but he didn't see him until it was too late.

*~*~*~*~* 

Tifa desperately looked around. Upon entering the city she had been a little spooked, but since the explosion, she was beyond horrified. She had no idea what was happening, if this was it, or if something worse was about to happen. Many more structures within Midgar had collapsed, and the fact that a huge piece of metal was now blocking her initial way out was not any more comforting. It was about eight or nine feet in height, and she couldn't climb over it, or find a different escape route.

The sky looked malicious, like black marble, slowly turning gray as the smoke curled upwards. She could barely see the fire over the twisted metal, and noticed that it wasn't as nearly as big as it was when it first appeared. It wasn't anywhere near her, and fortunately she wasn't hurt. But her hopes of getting out had already begun to diminish, and Tifa felt as cold and alone as ever. She hugged her jacket tighter around herself, and scanned the vicinity again. All the way to her left was an area that was a little more open, but it was pitch black, and she didn't want to venture any farther into this place than she had to. It would be easy to get lost if she went that way. On all other sides were either the walls of Midgar or the piece of metal. Staying where she was looked like the best move to make. She just hoped that help would come...

The most unpleasant chill crept up her spine when the thought occurred to her that something might have happened... to Cloud. Or Reno. Or both of them. What if she was alone?

...what _if_ she was alone? She couldn't bear to _think_ of that possibility.

Suddenly she heard something... someone, scrambling up the other side of the steel, and Tifa felt herself start to panic. She gasped a shallow breath, hearing her own heart pound wildly in her chest. She scanned the horizon of the metal form, afraid of what she would see. For a moment her eyes met nothing but darkness, then she saw someone emerge from the top, and her heart skipped violently. The light was too dim to see details of the face, but the fire from behind edged the silhouette with orange-red, and she could immediately recognize who it was.

_Cloud! He's okay!_ She was too relieved to speak.

"Tifa!" she couldn't have been more glad to hear his voice.

And she wanted to get out of here now more than ever. She wrapped her arms around herself tighter and wondered how exactly she would go about doing that.

Cloud leaned over the edge, as far down as he could go, and reached out to her. She jumped up and caught hold of his his hand. At the sudden weight his grip tightened, and she heard him murmur, "Hold on..." He wasn't going to let her go. Tifa was now able to climb as he pulled her up.

Once she made it to the top, Cloud put his arm around her waist and helped her over the edge. Now she was safe, the seemingly unshakable feeling of cold no longer plagued her; the scourge of fear that brought it almost melted away as he quietly asked her if she was okay, his arm still around her. Tifa nodded her head hastily.

A moment later they were back on the ground, cautiously stepping over the newly disseminated rubble. Tifa glanced around and toward the entrance and asked, "Where's Reno?"

Cloud looked, too, seeing no sign of him. Reno should have followed him in by now.

He felt another foreboding feeling rush over him. "...I don't know."

*~*~*~*~* 

"Reno."

....._go away._ He didn't want to be bothered.

"Reno!"

_What...?_ Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

"RENO!"

"WHAT?!" His eyes snapped open, and his vision immediately went from stark darkness to the temporarily blurry figures of Cloud and Tifa, who were standing over him. At the moment he was mildly annoyed at them both for disturbing him when he had been feeling so comfortable a second ago. And instantly after that thought went through his mind it occurred to him that he had been _unconscious_ a second ago.

Reno slowly sat up, and though the light was dim, he could see more clearly. Tifa looked concerned, maybe even a little worried. "You're bleeding!" she urgently pointed out.

At first all he could do was just stare back at her, hardly believing he'd heard her right. Then, almost as if on cue, he felt something drip from the side of his face and onto his shirt. He looked down and noticed that it indeed _was_ blood. The wound, close to his temple, was bleeding moderately. He was already starting to get a good deal of it on himself.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Reno was probably just saying that because the pain hadn't completely kicked in just yet.

Cloud looked at him with equal concern, and asked, "Can you stand?" He looked as if he were about to help him up.

Reno, feeling a little more irritable, gestured him to stay away, then stood up by himself without caution. But as soon as he had, he wished he hadn't gotten up so fast, as his head throbbed with the sudden pain and a storm of black flecks clouded his vision. He nearly stumbled but they caught him by the arms. When the waves of dizziness and pain had momentarily subsided enough, he annoyedly shoved them away; Reno didn't like them fretting over him like this. It took several moments, but he had steadied himself without their help.

With the sleeve of his wrinkly shirt and the heel of his palm, Reno applied pressure to to the wound. He had to make do with the medical resources they had on them, which was pretty much nothing. They didn't even have materia on them, as no one expected to get injured on this stupid mission. He was upset to see that he was the one who got badly hurt and not Cloud.

Tifa looked back up at Midgar, and at the fire that had drastically died down. "What happened?" she hadn't been there to see half of it, and her mind was reeling with questions.

Cloud shook his head, not sure where to begin or what to make of anything. Answers were hard to come up with at that moment, as they'd had hardly any time to speculate what happened. Reno, who already had a cigarette in his mouth, remained bitterly silent. He looked tired and crossed, and appeared to be paying attention to nothing other than the lighter he was fumbling with in his free hand.

A short moment of silence followed, then Reno asserted, "What more is there to it? There was an explosion and we got jumped by a dozen psychos."

Cloud and Tifa just blinked. That was a rather blunt summarization of the recent events, but coming from Reno, little more could be expected of him. Still, many questions remained unanswered.

Tifa shifted her weight, looking down at the ground. "What caused the explosion?" she wanted to know. 

No one really knew what to say to that. The three of them stood quietly for a moment, but then they began to feel drops of water, and smell the impending precipitation in the cool air. Rain. Reno snorted at their luck, blowing a cloud of smoke that quickly deteriorated in the humidity. Cloud looked up at the sky and tiredly announced that they'd continue this later, and the three of them turned and began their long walk back to Kalm, with Reno lagging lazily behind.

He took one long, last drag of his cigarette and threw it down resentfully. It was only his first day with his two favorite people (this time he couldn't be referring to Rude and Elena), and he was about ready to collapse. He could just imagine himself calling up Rude on PHS and having a conversation with him (that is, assuming he would be inclined to talk): "Hey, Rude! Oh, the mission's not so bad; in fact, it's going alright...tonight I got jumped and assaulted with a CROW BAR, but enough about me, how was _your_ day?"

After several minutes the bleeding stopped, but it was kind of hard to be sure, considering that it was now raining heavily. Reno walked with his head down, the water running off his nose, dripping from his mouth. Because of the lighting and the rain, his hair looked more like a dark auburn than its usual scarlet color, and his bangs were plastered to his face in curving rivlets. The rain didn't really bother him; he had more important things on his mind.

At the moment Reno didn't care so much about the how or the why concerning the men who attacked them, or the explosion. All he could think about was the guy with the crowbar, who apparently ran away after knocking him out. He just dared him to come back out there so he could get a little nightstick-happy and fry him a new one. Reno silently vowed to himself that the moron wouldn't get away next time... that is, if there would ever _be_ a next time.

About half an hour later the rain had pretty much stopped. But above them it remained thickly overcast, and made the night sky look much lighter. As a result, it wasn't very dark out, but everything looked gray and slightly foggy. There was not one thing that didn't have a dismal tint to it. It was as if someone took gray watercolor and painted a layer over the whole scene.

Just a couple hundred yards from town, they stopped. Cloud looked at the sky. "Look's like the rain's let up," he observed. "but it might start up again. We'd better hurry." Then he reached up to fix his wet, spiky hair (that miraculously maintained its shape) and muttered, "Now my hair's all messed up..."

At this Reno tossed his head back and made an exaggerated theatrical pose of tragedy toward Cloud. "Alas!" was his melodramatic cry (...perhaps the head injury had made him a bit tipsy). The fingerless gloves on his hands and the view of Midgar behind him were the only traces of real black against the sullen canvas.

Cloud did not look amused.

After a second, Reno looked back at him and misread his facial expression. "No worries, Cloud." he flashed a smug lopsided grin. "A couple cans of mousse and you'll be good as new."

Cloud's eyes darkened at him, and he heard Tifa silently chuckling. He shot a sideways glare at her, and she immediately stopped. But then a smile crept up on his own face, and he turned and walked ahead with her as he mumbled something that Reno just barely overheard.

Reno just stood there, eyes widened, in disbelief of what Cloud had said. It was the worst possible insult you could utter to someone with an ego like his... and the worst part of it was that it wasn't even true!

"HEY! I do NOT have a mullet!" he yelled, and broke into a run after them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Author's Note: Got alot to say. Well... that concludes Chapter 5. I was originally going to put more in this chapter, but I just cut it off here. Answers and more humor and such will be in the next chapter.

And I apologize for it taking me practically a month to update. I've had the worst luck; I just don't know how to begin to explain. It all started when my brother spilled coffee on the keyboard, and it went downhill from there...not to mention, fanfiction.net crashing. Before it crashed the second time I had this chapter done, but it was still an underdeveloped mess and the site was going vomit-inducingly slow, anyway. So... yeah. I'll try to do better with this updating business. 

This installment had my first attempt at action fighting in it. I guess this fic will be alot of firsts for me, since all I usually write is humor and angst (the latter of which I've hardly scratched the surface of).

Oh, and one more thing. I would like to say that as of this time I refuse to reveal anything about the romantic plot. Oh, I guess I could tell you it's not yaoi. So that's two possible pairings.

And I wanna thank all the people who reviewed because encouragement means everything (and thanks to Speed for pointing out something that I somehow didn't think of... goes to show how absent-minded I can be). I was feeling sort of crummy about this for a while, but I've done a lot of rethinking since then. I'm going on vacation in a couple days, but if all goes well I'll update once more the day I leave. 

Anyway, that's enough of my incessant rambling. Please tell me what you think! :D 


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Reno silently sat on the counter in his usual easy, slumped over posture. His hair was drying in in flame-licks around his head, shining copper in the overhead light. His eyelashes were still wet, making them darker and more noticeable. He made no discernible expression, and his eyes didnt reveal anything, as he looked straight ahead or down at the floor. When there wasn't an amused smirk on his face, he always looked laid-back and generally detached, but now he looked slightly pensive. Reno seemed to have his mind on something, but Tifa couldn't tell what he was thinking or feeling.

She took a step closer to him, which drew his gaze over at her. His eyes possessed a look that Tifa could only take as stoicism as they briefly swept over her. The mako in them made it more like a cold stare, which caused her to feel the slightest bit uneasy. 

She bit her lip. "This might sting a little." Gently she reached over and brushed back his hair from the wound below his temple, and pressed an alcohol-dampened cloth against it. As she almost suspected, he did little more than blink; he showed no visible sign of pain or discomfort. He wordlessly stared ahead, obviously paying no heed to the silence that had settled over them.

"I heard about what you did for Cloud." It was only in Tifa's amiable nature to be talkative, so she broke the ice.

At this Reno's eyes narrowed, yet he did not look at her. At least she got a reply out of him, annoyed as he may have sounded. "_What_ have I done for Cloud? I haven't done anything for Cloud except insult his appearance."

"Well, you helped him out back at Midgar..."

He turned his head to her as far as the cloth pressed against his face could allow, his face deadpan. "Yeah, what're you suggesting? That I allegedly 'saved' him from the wrath of a psychopath because maybe I came around and decided I wanna be his _friend?_ Cuz if that's what you're saying, you're absolutely _right_! Over the course of nine hours, I've discovered what a lovely individual Cloud is, and now I see the error of my ways and want his friendship. Oh, we could be the best of friends, and I'll come over for a tea party every Thursday!"

Now that comment might have been fine by her, had it not been dripping with blatant sarcasm. Reno continued, in mock glee: "And we'll share each other's secrets, and gossip, and braid each other's hair..." She suddenly felt very ill. The comment about the tea parties had been bordering on Bad Mental Imagery, but the thought of Reno and Cloud braiding each other's hair was just too much. Tifa could not suppress a shudder. 

She interrupted in time. "Okay, okay, that's enough! Just... forget I said anything."

"Whatever you say," Reno replied, the amused sneer having returned to his face. By that teasing look in his eye, he was evidently enjoying the fact that he had put her in this state of disturbance. Only when Tifa's scowl became more threatening did he let up and turn his head the other way.

They lapsed into a short silence as she finished up tending to his head injury. As he sat there, Tifa was able to study his profile. She noticed the flaws on his face: two gouging scars, one under each eye, which she had always wondered about. She found herself asking where he got them from.

It was just a curious question. For a moment it seemed as if he hadn't heard her right, but then he turned and looked at her. Intensely. Tifa couldn't tear herself away from his penetrating glare. His eyes were cold; adamantine and piercing, like icy diamonds. She couldn't tell just what she saw in his gaze, as this was almost like staring into an unfamiliar oblivion, terra incognita. Before he averted his gaze he blinked, the diamond flickered, and for a second she could have sworn that she saw something smolder beneath those unreadable eyes.

Reno didn't reply.

She didn't mean to upset him... that is, if she really _had_ upset him. For a moment the air sort of hung between them, and Tifa fumbled in vain for apologetic words. But he spoke, and he didn't sound that way at all. "I'd rather not talk about anything remotely about my past."

Surprised at his straightforwardness, she gaped at him, and became even more astonished to see that there were no hard feelings. Tifa still couldn't bring herself to speak.

Reno stared back at her, composed as if nothing ever happened. Then a devious smile pulled at the corner of his mouth and he added, "But I'm always open to talk about how funny-looking Cloud is."

Tifa elbowed him in the solar plexus.

*~*~*~*~* 

Man, everybody had just been taking it out on HIM today. Had Reno not been beaten enough? Well, most of his injuries he'd provoked himself, but still...

He leaned forward, clutching his stomach, which hurt a lot more than he dared let on. At this moment he made a mental note not to bad-mouth Cloud in front of Tifa. This whole let's-all-cause-Reno-pain thing was just getting old, and he didn't feel like giving anyone any more incentive to hit him. He just hoped that she wouldn't make him apologize; his ego was bruised as it was, considering what Cloud had said about his hair earlier, which Reno certainly had not forgotten. He vowed to get his revenge (which would have to be obtained in some indirect way, so he wouldn't have to get hit again).

But worse happened. He looked up and saw Cloud standing there in the doorway, looking rather amused and satisfied; apparently he had been there when Tifa hit him. Reno cursed inwardly at his luck. He quickly regained composure, got down from the counter and exited the bathroom, bitterly shoving Cloud out of the way. 

They were in Tifa and Cloud's house back in Kalm, which was a much nicer place than Reno had expected, much to his dismay. He'd hoped that all this time Cloud lived in a ditch. 

Tifa, he'd decided, was alright by him; he'd just have to watch what he'd say around her. She'd been surprisingly hospitable towards him, and had insisted that she take care of his wound. At first his answer was no, but he figured that it couldn't hurt if he let her, and she just wouldn't give up anyway. She certainly didn't pose as a threat, and it was quite obvious that she didn't regard _him_ as one, either. But he still didn't like Cloud any more than he did when he first laid eyes on him. Cloud seemed not to consider him the enemy anymore, and actually expressed concern for him when he was hurt. But Reno did not think he would ever regard him as even a _half_-decent person, not since that mullet comment.

It was all kind of odd. Last time he saw AVALANCHE the Turks were supposed to kill them, but now they were supposed to be comrades. They were no longer the enemy anymore. Back then they'd had orders to execute them, so Reno did not think of them as anything more than terrorists who deserved what they had coming. Rude, he recalled, had a crush on Tifa, which Reno thought was ridiculous. Why get emotionally attached to someone whose days were numbered? For goodness sakes, they'd been assigned to KILL them, not DATE them. But now here he was with two AVALANCHE members, and he didn't need to regard them as cold-blooded killers anymore. This all still felt so weird to him, and very ironic.

The living room was very cozy -- heck, the entire house was, and Reno was upset to see that Cloud was living in better conditions than he had been the past half-year or so. But he figured that it was only so nice and clean because a woman lived here. Otherwise, he assured himself, it would be a dump.

Reno leaned back against the wall, feeling the day's events and physical stresses take their toll. His body hurt all over, and he got up and stretched out his aching muscles in the same manner that a lazy, sleepy cat would. "Question."

Cloud, who was sitting back in the recliner, looked up. "Hm?"

"Do you have any idea," Reno asked, easing himself back to his relaxed position, "why the heck a bunch of morons would wanna go all the way out to a dead city just to jump us?"

Well, he'd half-answered the question himself, they were morons. But he was certain that even a complete idiot would have incentive for doing something like this.

Looking down, Cloud just shrugged a shoulder. "Probably because of what we did in Midgar, in the beginning. Regardless of what we ended up doing for the planet, a lot of people still don't like us."

Reno couldn't argue to that. Then something clicked in his head. "Wait, you mean this happens all the time?" He didn't want an angry group of psychos armed with crowbars and who knows what else following them around the whole mission. 'Fight off mobs of AVALANCHE-hating skanks as you go about your merry business'? No. That just wasn't in the contract.

Tifa shook her head hastily. "No, it's never been _this_ bad. Usually it's just random lowlifes -- most of the time they're drunk -- telling us off on the street, and occasionally they'd try to start a fight." At this point Reno could have pointed and laughed at Tifa and Cloud; he could have yelled, "Sucks to be _you_!" in their faces, maybe even done a little self-appreciative dance while he was at it. But no. He couldn't, because for several days he would have to deal with being harassed along _with_ them. There just seemed to be so many downsides to this whole mission.

She continued, "But it's never gotten as serious as this. It's never been a big group of them, with -- what was that anyway, a grenade?"

Cloud shook his head, but Reno beat him to talking. "Bet you a million gil it wasn't."

"Why not?"

Cloud and Reno both began to explain, then stopped abruptly to glare at each other.

*~*~*~*~* 

Tifa sighed inwardly and impatiently watched the two engage in their silent competition, sorry that she'd even brought it up. It turned out they both knew what they were saying, and she'd only asked to be enlightened on a subject she knew very little about, but it just had to turn into this. Thankfully it didn't last long, as Cloud just gave in and let him have it.

"Ohh, it's just standard explosives knowledge." Reno gave Cloud one last look, obviously enjoying the fact that his professional tone of voice was horribly annoying him, and shifted his gaze back to Tifa. "A grenade can't produce that big of a flame. You saw it when it happened, didn't you? The description just doesn't fit. It had to be somethin' else."

"It could have even been fire materia." Cloud added. "It could have hit some flammable material and exploded, but then that's only a conjecture."

Seeing the empty love seat as a more welcoming spot, Reno plopped down in it and made himself comfortable. He leaned back and stretched out his long legs so that his boots were resting on the coffee table, which isn't exactly the most polite thing to do when you're a guest at someone's home. Cloud gave Tifa a sideways look but they didn't say anything otherwise. Reno was just being Reno, anyway.

To her, Reno had always looked rugged and incomplete. He was tall though very lanky, with an unfinished build that reminded her more of an adolescent (most of the time he _acted_ like one, too). He wore clothes that he couldn't quite fill in, but where they fell on him in certain places you could see the well-toned yet slender muscle show through. His posture, the way he wore his clothing, even the way he walked gave the impression that he was laid back and unconcerned; that he didn't have a care in the world. And when he spoke he didn't have the best grammar, but his occasional use of big words starkly contrasted his slum dialect. He certainly was a piece of work.

"Yeah, well..." Reno said as he laid back, his arms folded behind his head. His eyes were closed and he wore his usual impassive visage. "explosives, materia or otherwise... if they were tryin' to hit _us_, they were way off."

*~*~*~*~* 

"'Just ignore it'? That's all you can say?!"

Cloud quickened his strides to catch up with Tifa, who heaved a sigh as she walked down the street. They were on their way back from checking Reno in at the hotel -- Cloud preferred to call it 'kicking him out' -- there was no way he'd let him stay the night at their house. They were finally able to get rid of the Turk for the night, but not without a few caustic remarks about Cloud's appearance, which was what he was worked up about at this moment.

"Yes," she said tiredly. "It's as simple as that." 

They were now walking shoulder to shoulder in the dark avenue. The streetlights cast a shadow over one side of Cloud's face, yet it wasn't enough to completely hide his frown in the darkness. "But he insulted my hair again!"

When his only reply from Tifa was stern a glare, he went on:

"It's not like he's normal looking, himself. He has bad posture and apparently still doesn't understand the concept of folding clothes. He annoys the hell out of me! And you _know_ he does it on purpose. He's trying to start a fight!"

"Precisely!" she cut in. "If you don't give him the satisfaction, he'll eventually stop."

They walked the rest for a moment in silence as Cloud absorbed this. Tifa thought for a moment that this argument was over. But then he said, "I think he'd stop a lot sooner if you'd just hit him a couple more times."

Tifa whirled around, hands on her hips. "_Cloud_!"

The pure light from the street lamps fell around them, soft and white. He raised his hands defensively. "...sorry. I'm being ridiculous." his voice lost its mutinous tone, and he once again sounded calm and reasonable. "But what is there that me and him have in common? I think the only thing I could see us agreeing on is how bad the rates are from the PHS cell phone companies."

She chuckled. "That's it?"

"Oh, yes. They're _horrible_."

Tifa snickered and noticed Cloud was smiling, too. Upon reaching their house she unlocked the door and they both walked in; Tifa heaved a deep sigh, weary and relieved. After tossing the keys onto the kitchen table she began shrugging out of her jacket. She wanted more than anything to just put this day behind her. At one point all hope was lost, and she really thought she was alone. To think today she almost lost him...

"What's wrong, Tif?"

Her train of thought snapped in two and she looked up at Cloud; she almost lost herself in his concerned mako gaze. She looked away, shaking her head.

"Nothing. It's just... _today_...." she gestured with a motion of her hand, but couldn't manage to put her feelings into words.

He reminisced, and solemnly nodded. "Yeah, I know. It was really crazy." That seemed like an understatement, Tifa couldn't help but think. But then he reached out and unexpectedly pulled her into a hug, which she was at first surprised at but certainly didn't object to. Cherishing the warm embrace, she rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes. "But I'm just glad you're safe."

*~*~*~*~* 

Reno did not realize just how tired he was until he lay down in his bed. His eyelids felt weighed down by the sudden sleepiness, and he felt as if he'd be dozing off at any moment. But he couldn't sleep just yet, as it also occurred to him how hungry he was.

Struggling to sit up, he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He grimaced when he looked around his hotel room. The floorboards were dark brown, but the lamps and bedding were frilly and pink. What was the deal with that? _It looks like Little Bo Peep PUKED in here_, Reno thought with disgust.

It had been about eleven hours since he last ate, but officially two days since he last drank alcohol. Reno was never the "glass is half empty" or the "glass is half full" kind of person. He was the more rare, "it's neither, cuz I drank it all" type. It was what his life revolved around. He'd spent the majority of his salary on alcohol the past half year or so, and Elena had told him that there was more to living a post-Shinra life than getting drunk. He was way ahead of her. Let's just say that when you get really tanked and wake up half-naked in a dumpster with a dog licking nacho cheese off your leg, you tend to do a lot of thinking. If Rude and Elena never came back to get him he probably would have straightened himself up on his own, eventually. At least, that was what he liked to think.

He laid back on the bed he was almost embarrassed to sleep on, not able to ignore the pangs of hunger, but being too tired and lazy to move. It was then that a glorious idea popped up in his head.

He sat upright, leaned over and picked up the phone. Reno had just thought of the wonderful way he would avenge himself... Cloud would be the one paying for his stay at this horribly effeminate hotel, and he was going to take advantage of that. He dialed the number for room service, not being able to suppress the insidious laughter that rose in his throat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Author's Note: Well, there it is, as promised. I think by now Reno's character is established... I made him sorta enigmatic, I guess, to make him more unpredictable. Sometimes he's hard to read, even mysterious to outsiders, but at this point he'd rather keep his distance anyway. Well, I'm leaving for vacation today. But I'll be writing some when I'm gone, and I'll be back to update! Thanks to those who reviewed! 


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7** In the still darkness she turned over and her eyes fluttered open, slowly breaking the surface of sleep. She sat up and groggily took in her surroundings with tired, blurry vision, wondering what roused her from her deep slumber. It was probably around four in the morning; it was still very dark in the living room, the only luminance coming from street lamps and the moonlight that poured in through the windows. Her hand fell on the spot next to her on the couch, now empty. As her senses gathered she remembered that she and Cloud had fallen asleep here. Where did he go? When he got up the movement must have awakened her. 

She brushed her hair out back from her face and blinked the exhaustion from her eyes. It probably wasn't anything to be worried about, but she wouldn't able to rest until she was sure he was alright.

And she didn't venture far before she found him. He was sitting at the kitchen table, head bowed so she couldn't see his face, and his fingers were tangled in his hair. Something was wrong.

"Cloud."

He didn't look up at her. "...go back to sleep."

Of course, she didn't listen. He was trying to play it off as no big deal, but Tifa knew better. When he realized she wasn't going anywhere, he looked up at her. She knew what was wrong even before she saw it in his eyes.

Nightmares.

The way the dim light hit his eyes -- the dull mako glow, Tifa caught a glimpse of the restlessness inside that he could not begin to put into words. Sephiroth, Shinra, Meteor... those were all over with; long gone. But their memories never did leave them. Some things you just can't forget. It's possible to shove the memories in the farthest and darkest corners of the conscience, but they would always come back, in dreams or triggered by something else. This wasn't the first time it happened; both of them had lost sleep on nights like these, but Cloud had it worse.

He looked back down again and insisted that he would be fine and that she go back to sleep. But she didn't leave, and she knew deep down that he really didn't want her to.

She went over and sat next to him, and rested her head on his shoulder. This wasn't just their house. When they first got it everyone from AVALANCHE was always hanging around. It was hardly ever just the two of them here.

Sometimes they just didn't want to be alone.

She felt his tense shoulders relax, and he leaned closer. Sometimes she wondered why they were still only friends. It seemed they'd been through everything together, known each other long before anyone else did, struggled with the same demons. Sometimes she was almost sure he felt the same way, and so many times she had almost brought herself to say it but couldn't. It had set in that all she really had was their relationship, and she valued it more than anything else. To tell him would risk everything she had, and she couldn't bear to do that.

*~*~*~*~* 

It was afternoon check-out time at the hotel, and the main floor was filled with the aroma of hazelnut coffee. Reno was standing by the breakfast pastries table, well into consuming his fourth jelly donut. He was very impressed with this place for actually carrying them (though he still didn't get what the deal was with the pink bedding). No matter how 'cultured' he became as a Turk, he never stopped liking the things. Greatest culinary invention, if he ever saw one.

When he got the ridiculously expensive check for Reno's stay at the inn, Cloud threw a scowl in his direction, and he stopped licking his fingers to smile innocently, enjoying his sweet revenge. The tables always turn when you mess with Reno.

He looked over and noticed Tifa standing near the entrance, looking pretty tired. Last night was exhausting, and he was grateful that he'd slept in longer, although they should have left town several hours ago. They were going to walk for a great deal again, hit the chocobo stables, then it's off to Junon. But at this rate, they would probably arrive too late for the boat to Costa Del Sol.

They left the inn, and the sunlight was so bright it made Reno squint. He was really sick of walking, but it couldn't be helped, because it obviously had never occurred to Cloud to buy a friggin' _car_.

Tifa spent the next several minutes staring out at the rolling plains ahead of them, the vivid shades of blues and greens filling up her vision. Inhaling the fresh air, she returned to her placid thoughts. She subconsciously lagged behind them, listening to the nearby ocean, the chirping birds, and... Cloud calling Reno an alcoholic. Right when she was starting to think it was such a beautiful day, they were back to mindlessly bickering at each other again.

The Turk raised his chin haughtily. "'Alcoholic'? I prefer the term oenophile."

Cloud snorted sarcastically. "Right."

"Wait... you know what that means?" Reno was distraught. Cloud was supposed to be the idiot here.

He just shrugged. "Doesn't everyone?"

Tifa, who had been completely silent the entire time, piped up from behind. "_I_ don't!"

But no one heard her.

They had their glares fixed on one another, too immersed in their argument to pay attention to anything else. "Now are we done with the nugatory diatribe here?"

Reno narrowed his eyes into dark aquamarine slits. He wasn't about to let Cloud know that he had no idea what he'd just said, so he changed the subject altogether. "You're funny-lookin'."

"You look like a famine victim."

Tifa found herself tuning out. She'd told Cloud earlier that they had to work things out on their own, but that seemed more and more like an utter impossibility. She could feel her nerves being grated and her temper become shorter and shorter. She wasn't sure why Reno insisted on giving Cloud hell. Every insult was accompanied by an amused smirk, but something about the look he had in his eye when he said them gave the impression that he was doing this for more than the fun of it. The spite was almost tangible in his voice, too. Did he really hate him that much?

Actually acknowledging her existence after a long while, Reno turned around. "Hey Tifa, which one of us is more funny-looking, me or Cloud?"

She snapped out of her train of thought, and the two of them stared at Tifa expectantly as she gazed disbelievingly back at them. She refused to answer such an absurd question, especially since they'd been ignoring her for so long. Cloud had this you're-supposed-to-side-with-me look on his face and Reno looked so confident and smug; his expression told her that this was an easy question to answer.

By now they'd completely stopped walking, time was ticking and they were still waiting for her reply. But much to their dismay, she wasn't going to give them one.

"Oh, this is ridiculous." She reached out and grabbed hold of one of the spikes on Cloud's head and pulled hard. He yelped in surprise and stumbled forward, her hand still grasping his hair. "That's enough. There'll be no more exchanging of insults as long as the three of us are together, whether you started it or not."

Cloud nodded meekly.

"Heheheh..." This was gold! Reno laughed, wishing more than anything he had a camera on him now. But then Tifa's hand shot out and she yanked at his ponytail, his own face contorting in astonishment and pain. "And YOU," she hissed. Reno didn't miss the underlying threatening tone of her voice. "You should just keep your mouth shut altogether!"

"Yes ma'am!" He hated how lame he sounded, but his head throbbed and he didn't want to say anything to make her pull any harder.

Tifa exhaled shortly, calming down from her fit. "Now," she said pleasantly, as if nothing had ever happened, "we are going." And with that she walked forward, a death grip still on the hair of both men, who staggered behind her pathetically.

*~*~*~*~* 

When Tifa decided they had learned their lesson she finally let go, and they walked the rest of the way in resentful silence, the tall grasses surrounding the chocobo stables getting tangled up in their legs. Reno stumbled some more, grumbling something or other about lawnmowers. He'd never ridden a chocobo before, and he'd never seen any of the funky colored breeds up close. All that was going to change today, and he had no clue what to expect.

They walked into the humble little barn, where they were greeted by a kid, clad in overalls with a straw hat on his head. Reno's mouth scrunched to the side and his shoulders shook in silent laughter. Cloud shot a glare at him, imploring him not to say a word.

So he didn't. But it was hard.

His hands stuffed into his pockets, he slowly walked along the corrals, looking at every chocobo he passed by. There were two gold chocobos, one of which he wanted to ride (being the youngest Turk yet the oldest person in this particular entourage at twenty-four, he thought he should be the one to choose first), but those were always reserved for Tifa and Cloud, so he had to settle for a different one.

Then he found himself staring into the steely gray eyes of a certain chocobo, with black feathers and plumage that shone a sort of metallic violet when they caught the light. Reno's gaze slid over to the name plate, which, with gender and rank, read his name: Maelstrom.

Reno let out an elongated "cool" under his breath, and turned his head and obnoxiously called out: "Hey Cleatus! I want this one!"

Choco Billy -- whose name was certainly not Cleatus -- threw a nervous look in the general direction of Chole, then at Tifa and Cloud(who were looking angry themselves). Flustered but nonetheless polite, he helped Maelstrom out of his stable and began telling Reno the do's and don'ts of chocobo riding, none of which he was listening to. Acting like some drug store cowboy he hopped on his chocobo, barely hearing Choco Billy say that Maelstrom had the tendency to run very fast.

The three of them were led out of the barn, bid farewell by their hickish counterparts. "Now remember, kids..." Reno said to Choco Billy and Chole with a parental tone of voice, "Never drink and drive..... the tractor."

They looked mortified.

Cloud and Tifa gave him one millisecond of a glare and they were off, chasing him back through the grass meadows. Maelstrom was running so fast that he was leaning forward, wings outspread, and Reno was laughing so hard he nearly fell off several times. Tifa was really going to kick him for this one, but he just couldn't resist. 

*~*~*~*~* 

It was dusk when they arrived at Junon, and as expected, they'd missed the boat to Costa Del Sol. They could do nothing but stay at an inn for the night and wait for the next day's ride.

Tifa leaned over the rail and stared down at the water, alone with her thoughts. She was supposed to be asleep now, but she just wasn't tired. Junon wasn't exactly the safest place for a woman to be outside and alone at night, but it wasn't as if she couldn't protect herself.

There were all kinds of tanked weirdos stumbling around on the streets behind her, but she didn't pay any attention to them, and they didn't seem to notice her. Tifa was just fine with that. But then she heard someone's footsteps coming too close... she knew they were approaching her. When she could sense them right behind her she whirled around and kicked them, hard, in the leg. It wasn't much of an attack, but it was really too dark to see what she was doing.

The stranger fell onto one knee, clutching his other leg. Tifa was poised to do a triple combination if he would get up again, but she saw a nearby streetlight catch a coppery shock of red. "Will you... STOP that!" The voice was unmistakable.

She eased out of her tense fighting stance. "Are you alright?"

Reno grunted. "I WILL be..." he looked up to see that she had turned back around.

"What are you doing out here?" Tifa nearly demanded.

He stood up and limped over next to her. "I just came out for a cigarette. What are YOU doing out here?"

She didn't reply directly. "Can't sleep either?" The cold distance in her voice told him her mind was elsewhere.

Wondering what the deal was with her, Reno gave her a funny look, though she wasn't facing him. "No, not really."

He lit his cigarette, and they stood in silence. They looked ahead, out over the black water and the muted light from the dim stars that skidded across it. Seconds stretched into minutes, and she hadn't made any effort to start a conversation or even say a word, which Reno couldn't help but think was so unlike her.

He was halfway through his cigarette when he spoke. "Well. Quite the antisocial butterfly this evening, are you?"

She glanced over at him, bored detachment plain on his face, even in the dim light. He could be so collected sometimes it made her think of Vincent, and she'd since concluded it must have been a Turk thing.

"Why do you hate AVALANCHE?"

The question got him to look over at her, his raised eyebrow being the only sign of surprise. "...I think the question should be more like whether this planet was worth saving."

"What do you mean?"

Reno stared at her for a moment. She really had no idea, did she? His own experiences in life had taught him that the world is a very bleak place, and you were a fool to think it otherwise. Even after her planet-saving adventure with her little buddies, was she so oblivious to the hundreds of problems that remained?

He brought his arms up, motioning all around him. "Come on, Tifa, look at this place. Shinra isn't around anymore, but are we that much better off? The crime rate's through the roof in major city areas. If you wanna make the planet safer, you might wanna build a psychiatric hospital, cuz now we got drunks with post-traumatic stress disorder staggering around!"

Tifa brought her head up to meet his gaze. "And who's responsible for these problems in the first place?"

Reno let his arms drop to his sides, not liking where this was going. He turned back to face the water, taking a furious drag of his cigarette, and he gave her a sideways stare that told her he didn't want to go there.

"Have you ever looked back on what you've done... with any remorse?"

Reno craned his neck to see the street sign. "What is this, Memory Lane?" He noticed Tifa's glare fixed on him, frustrated that he was skirting the subject. Who was she to point fingers, anyway? "Hey, don't jump down MY throat. You guys aren't exactly saints, either. And nothing you did or will do is ever gonna make up for it."

Tifa put her hand on her hip, looking at him in disbelief. "You hold what we did against us?"

"Everything _messed up_ when you came into the picture! Because of you people I lost my job, and now I have a worse one where I'll probably be planting _flowers_ for my next mission. And I was unemployed for a really friggin' long time. Do you know what I ate for breakfast last week? Shake 'n Bake. A box of Shake 'n Bake! Although the most disturbing thing about that is I don't remember ever buying it, because I never had intentions to make fried chicken since I can't cook, let alone boil water." He realized Tifa staring at him blankly, and he hastily shook his head. "But anyway, I'm digressing."

"So even after all this, you would rather Shinra was still around?"

Reno didn't need to think about that one. "Yes!"

And he'd said it truthfully. When he worked for Shinra he didn't have to worry about being so broke he was subject to eating fried chicken coating.

Tifa closed her eyes and shook her head, and Reno didn't like the feeling he got from it. She opened them again and looked up at him her eyes smoldering black, her dark hair framing her pale face. "Forget it. I have nothing more to say to you." It wasn't so much what she said but how she said it that made him feel like he should be ashamed of himself. The pity and disgust in her voice caused him to look down, and he pretended to still be crushing the cigarette under his boot. And in doing so, his eyes were concealed in scar-rimmed shadows, his mouth was drawn out in a bitter line. _Do I look proud of myself?_ He wanted to say. _Don't look at me like that. You can't blame me for not having a choice in what I had to do. Without Shinra there was nothing for me..._

But she had walked away, and now more than ever Reno wanted nothing other than something hard to drink.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ridiculously Long Author's Note: Ay! I have to apologize (again) for taking forever to update. The reason was mostly writer's block and THIS stupid piece of junk... *kicks computer* It got this virus type thing where it started destroying its own files, so we ended up erasing everything on the hard drive, and I lost all my stuff. And for a LONG while I just couldn't write. I knew exactly where they were going and what they were going to do in this chapter, but it just came out sounding lame and forced, and dialogue was all blah-y. Making myself write only seemed to make it worse, so I did the only thing I could do: I walked away from it. Then one day I sat back down and had a satisfying chapter typed up in two days.

It hasn't occurred to me until now just how much poor Reno's been slapped around throughout this fic! And I'm not sure why, either, o_o but I'll try to go easier on him in the future.

And it may have occurred to you that *gasp* Cloud isn't a blithering idiot! Yes, he does have the tendency to point out the blatantly obvious, and yes, he seems oblivious to Tifa's feelings for him. But no, he does not have borderline intellectual functioning. I refuse the make Cloud the airheaded blonde he's portrayed as in so many other fics. 

And I'm sorry if I sent you foraging through the dictionary, but if you haven't already, I'll tell you what those big words meant. An oenophile is a fancy-schmancy word for a wine connoisseur (Reno would know, wouldn't he ^_^), nugatory means trifling or of no importance; diatribe is verbal abuse. And I used a horse term for chocobos, I must confess. A drugstore cowboy, if I remember correctly, is someone who thinks they can just get on a horse and ride it, or something along the lines of that.

I have just begun high school, and I have noooo clue how much of my time it will demand. I'll probably only be able to write on weekends, so it might take longer to update. In the next chapters it gets deeper, so I have to think things through more.

Ah, another long author's note by yours truly. Next chapter: Reno runs(or should I say, stumbles?) into someone we know, and, um... other stuff happens that I can't give away -_-. 

Anywho, please leave a review on your way out! 


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The next morning Reno woke up insanely early, and he didn't do it on purpose, either. A bad dream had woken him up too soon when he'd already been having trouble sleeping in the first place, and no matter how long he laid there, it wasn't going to help him doze off again. So he just decided to get up altogether, and get some caffeine in his system to wake up all the way. Groggily, he dragged his feet downstairs to the breakfast area.

Reno, half-awake and feeling particularly crummy, nearly had an anger management moment when he saw that this inn didn't have the coffee he liked. Actually, he _hated_ coffee; he always thought it smelled good enough but tasted horrible. He wouldn't drink the stuff unless the flavor was overpowered by something sweet, preferably a huge amount of chocolate syrup. And all they had here was sugar and cream, which just wouldn't cut it.

Nowadays he could be so particular about little things... eh, blame it on him being a member of an elite for the past seven years, when only the best of the best was handed to him on a silver platter. And now because of it, Reno wouldn't settle for anything less, no matter how insignificant it might be.

There was a cafe nearby that he could go to, but that would mean having to face some moron (Reno felt they NEVER used enough chocolate), and he would have to stand there and say "more" about eighty times. At the moment he had about zero patience, and he had the feeling that if he did go he'd end up jumping across the counter and strangling the person. And he certainly wasn't in the mood to deal with a restraining order.

Reno decided he'd stumble to the supermarket across the street, where he knew he could prepare his own coffee there.

*~*~*~*~* 

Reeve stopped dead in his tracks.

Perhaps he was just mistaken. It had, after all, been nearly a year since he'd last seen him. It could very well have been a different person.

He glanced back again. A different _unkempt_ person... with sunglasses holding his red hair back from his face? And indolent posture, and identical scars across the cheekbones?

_No_, he thought. _It can't be_.

But it was.

It was Reno, in the cafe section of the supermarket, and he appeared to be getting himself some coffee. Still feeling the situation as somewhat surreal, Reeve approached him without another thought.

"Hey. Remember me?"

Holding a large styrofoam cup in his hand, Reno turned around and looked at him. His hair was messier than usual, his lips were puffy from sleep, his eyes were half closed, and he needed to shave. It was obvious that he'd just woke up. Staring blankly at Reeve, there wasn't the slightest shadow of recognition dawning on his face.

"...from that glazed look in your eye, I'll take that as a no."

Reno squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head as if to clear it. "No, I remember you." His words were slow and his voice had a rough edge.

He went to fill his cup, but much to his dismay, the coffee machine wouldn't work. Reno punched the machine a couple times, then resorted to shaking it violently, muttering the most colorful of profanities. Reeve didn't want to intrude on his battle with an inanimate object, but for the sake of small children nearby(and the disturbance it was creating), he just had to interrupt.

"...um. It says, 'Push.'" He reached over and pressed a button, and a spout of steaming hot coffee poured out perfectly and stopped when the cup was almost full.

Slightly swaying on his feet, Reno stared at it with eyes so narrow they almost looked closed. "I knew that..." he muttered resentfully.

Reeve decided he shouldn't try to make conversation just yet -- Reno didn't seem to be capable of doing so in his condition -- so he waited for him to finish preparing his coffee.

He watched as he pumped about 8 squirts of chocolate syrup into his drink, getting the feeling that the combination of coffee and chocolate was going to make Reno terribly wired. Back in the Shinra days he remembered the Turk had taken a liking to the espresso brownies there, and a hyperactive Reno within the walls of the HQ was an absolute nightmare.

Reno blindly slapped a few gil on the counter, and the two of them stepped outside. They walked along the street as Reno held his steaming cup with both hands, blowing into at and sipping every now and then.

He wasn't completely sure if Reno was still out of it or not, but Reeve spoke anyway. "Wow, it's been so long. I think the last time I talked to you guys, you and Rude were planning on putting Nair in Rufus' shampoo."

Reno was looking down at his coffee, but he seemed to be more alert now. The corner of his mouth curled up in amusement as he recalled. "Yeh. Bastard died before we could try it, though."

Reeve and Reno had never been enemies, but that didn't mean Reeve was safe from his pranks. No one was. Reno had put jelly on his chair in the conference room and he didn't find out until it was too late... but that particular memory he wasn't eager to reminisce about.

They went on to have a rather pointless yet amusing conversation about the one on the receiving end of most of Reno's pranks: Palmer. It was his cheery and gullible nature that made him such an easy target, and a great source of entertainment on boring days at the HQ. What's more, Palmer had so many aspects of him that were fun to pick on, such as the way he always walked in through doors sideways, and how he could never stand still... he bounced left and right as if at the mercy of some perpetual wedgie.

Reno knocked back the last of his coffee and dropped the cup on the sidewalk. It rolled in a semicircle and stopped, just inches away from a trash can. Reeve stopped walking and looked at it, then at Reno, who looked like he could really care less. Then he walked back and picked up the cup to throw it away, pretending not to notice the Turk roll his eyes. People were really conscientious about preserving the environment these days.

"That reminds me..." Reno said as they presumed walking, "how's your job goin' for ya?" He carelessly gestured in the general direction of the energy corporation, not bothering to elaborate.

"The company is doing well," Reeve said with a shrug. "I mean, there's not anyone we don't have support from. But..." He reluctantly trailed off, seeming unsure of what he was about to say.

They abruptly stopped walking. "...but what?" _He'd better not be going where I think he's going_, Reno thought. He didn't like the way he was hesitating.

"I don't know..." Reeve glanced at the other man who was watching him intently, and he fumbled for the right words. "Maybe I'm mistaken, but I just... I get the impression that they're not telling me everything. Sometimes..." he lowered his voice subconsciously, "I think they're hiding some things. Like they don"t want me to know..."

Reno groaned, an all too-familiar foreboding feeling caught in his chest. He locked his eyes with Reeve's, desperation and exhaustion melded in his voice. 'Tell me it's not happening again."

He couldn't say a word of condolence, now matter how much he wanted to. He could only stare back at him, his facial expression a grim mixture of uncertainty and worry.

A pedestrian brushed past Reno, bumping him, but his gaze didn't avert from Reeve's. It slowly set in as he read it all on his face. He narrowed his eyes slightly as a dull flatness came over them; he suddenly thought of the view at sunset from atop the balcony of the Shinra HQ: everything so tainted by gray haze the horizon wasn't even discernible, the sun a bleak faint orange-red that felt so far away. Not even it could break through and christen the city with its light; the metropolis was left to drown in the shadows of its own black iniquities and hopelessness, twisted in its unsound and noxious slant.

He found himself hoping Reeve was just overreacting, making the wrong assumption. But now the doubt was instilled in him, that the golden ray of hope could really just be the phoenix rising from Shinra's ashes.

*~*~*~*~* 

"_There_ you are."

The floorboards thudded hollowly with Reno's slow and heavy gait. He looked up at Cloud, who was glaring at him disapprovingly for being late. Reno resisted the urge to tell him to go dice some tomatoes with that pathetic kitchen utensil he called a sword. The caffeine had worn off much too quickly, and at his state of mental unrest, he didn't want to deal with anything else today.

Exhaustedly, he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes while Cloud checked them out of the inn. There were a million thoughts going through his head, and he didn't know where to start to make sense of anything. Suddenly feeling the presence of someone beside him he opened them again, looked over and saw Tifa. From the expression on her face, Reno thought he must have looked pretty bad.

"Are you okay?"

Leisurely blinking his eyes, Reno stared back at her for a moment, remembering last night. He briefly wondered why she was asking him about his well-being instead of punching him in the neck. Nonetheless answering her question, he bowed his head. "Tired."

That was at least half true.

Much to Reno's surprise, she went on to apologize about last night, and that she had been on edge and in a bad mood, etc. Thinking that she could sometimes be too nice for her own good, Reno waved her to be quiet and told her he was the one who should be sorry since he was being the idiot, and their little argument had made him think... kinda. Maybe.

"Let's go." Cloud threw him a look, and he and Tifa made their way to the door. Reno crossed his eyes and obnoxiously mimicked him, then followed.

Out on the streets of Junon, Reno subconsciously fell into step alongside Tifa, who was walking next to Cloud. This city was full of trashy characters, most of which were in dire need of deodorant and/or a shower. And normally they liked to holler at women, but they wouldn't dare to this time. If they so much as looked in Tifa's direction, their gaze would be met squarely by either of the intimidating men at her side.

*~*~*~*~* 

Several hours later, they were only about halfway to Costa Del Sol. It was a longer boat ride than Tifa remembered. And this was the first time they didn't have to dress like soldiers or pose as stowaways on the cargo ship. Since they had boarded the boat, she and Cloud were caught up with people who recognized them as AVALANCHE members. They did attain celebrity status for a short while, but then it seemed most everyone stopped caring. It wasn't as if they could expect much more from them... it's just how people were.

Everywhere she looked she saw a couple holding hands, romantically taking in the beautiful view, and she had to admit she was slightly annoyed by it. She'd been hoping to be alone with Cloud, but that didn't appear to be a likely prospect.

Tifa found herself wondering what Reno was up to. He'd pretty much gone his own separate way since they'd gotten on the ship. She craned her neck to see over people's heads, but he wasn't anywhere in sight. She politely excused herself (Cloud didn't seem to mind... unsurprisingly) and went to look for Reno.

At the other side of the boat he was easy to spot; the only lone figure among pairs of people. He was leaning over the safety rail, looking down at the water. Tifa leaned her elbows on the railing next to him. "Hi."

Reno looked more or less happy to see her, some degree of clarity in his eyes. Or maybe that was just how they reflected the backdrop of the water and the sky. "Hey." He cocked his head and studied her for a moment, then added, "Somethin' wrong?"

Tifa managed a smile. "Nothing. I'm fine."

Reno did not look convinced.

Frustrated with how he could read her like a book and she could hardly tell what he was thinking half the time, she sighed. "It's just... I don't know, I'm tired." She looked around herself, adding somewhat mutinously, "And it's weird that practically everyone else on this boat is a couple."

He studied her face again and blinked, understanding in his eyes passing quickly as the shadows. It made her think of how he was during their very first encounter with him, at the Sector 7 plate; narrow-eyed, grinning sadistically. She remembered when he spoke his voice was so smooth, and his words flowed so evenly. But now the spite was completely gone from his eyes, and his words lazily draped across his sentences. Reno didn't seem to be wearing that facade anymore. "You think _that's_ weird?" He tried to keep a straight face, "Well, you have yet to see Rude sing karaoke."

She burst out laughing, and Reno found himself doing the same as he recalled his fellow Turk's rendition of "Pretty Fly(For a White Guy)". He was an enchanting singer(at least as enchanting as one can sing that kind of song), but Reno personally felt his friend should stick to the break dancing. Rude doesn't look like it, but the man can really bust a move.

The laughter passed, leaving her smiling contently... this time it reached her eyes. That was more like the Tifa he knew.

But then he became slightly confused. "Where's your boyfriend at?"

Tifa shifted her weight, slightly chagrined, hating how she couldn't help it. "Um, Cloud's not..."

She trailed off, but Reno got the idea. "Oh," was all he could manage, raising an eyebrow in surprise. He wondered why this hadn't occurred to him before. He had a sneaking suspicion that she wanted it to be more than... whatever was going on between them, but he didn't try to delve into it.

"Do _you_ have a girlfriend?"

He was slightly caught off-guard with that question, but answered anyway. "Nah," he replied, shaking his head. He looked back out over the water. "Never been serious."

And what was the need to be? Back in the Shinra days, women simply _threw_ themselves at you..... not _literally_, of course. Well, the only man he'd seen a woman really launch herself at was Rufus. But Reno didn't like to think about that.

"Really? You've never been in love?"

This time he just stared at her as if she'd been dancing the funky chicken. He'd always regarded love as fairy tale BS -- he'd certainly never found it. Reno would have dismissed her as naive and delusional, but he could tell she really truly believed it was real... and for some obscure reason he found that intriguing. 

"I think there's such thing as a soul mate." she said, leaning completely on the railing and crossing her arms so she could rest her head. Staring out at the horizon, a hint of a smile graced her features as she thought about it. "There's one person out there that's meant to be, and you have this connection you don't have with anyone else. And it's not like anything else because it's real, and it's built on a real foundation... It's enduring and it lasts forever," She smiled shyly and composed herself. "Sorry, I was rambling."

Reno shook his head, all but speechless. Here he was, standing before someone who believed they could find Forever, and all along he'd only been looking for Now. How could he ever expect to find fulfillment in empty pleasures? It suddenly struck him that all this time he'd only been grasping for wind. It made him realize how lonely he was, and he felt he had been missing out on something big. Something real.

She bowed her head, and he watched with admiration as her eyes shone with such serene clarity, loving the way the sun touched her features and her hair was shaped by the wind. For a moment Reno was able to see what Rude could have seen in her, and a curious, almost epiphanic feeling swelled in his chest.

Tifa noticed he was staring at her. She blinked, a curious smile on her face. "What?"

He couldn't help but grin stupidly, and it widened even more, almost to the point that it wasn't so lopsided. After a moment of sharing her gaze he was finally able to turn away.

"Nothing."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: !!!!!!! Mmmmmmm_hmmmmmmm_.... 

Cheesy ending, eh? But...... ahh, I'm not sayin' a thing! It's gonna get messy from this point, though.

Anyway, special thanks to kimetara for her beta reading/nitpicking of this chapter! ^_^ ( hey-hey, this author's note didn't turn out be a fic in itself...) And thanks to the readers who reviewed! I'll try hard to get the next installment up quicker... in the meantime, make me happy(you know the drill)! 


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Many times Reno had thought of telling them about Reeve and the concerns he had expressed. At one point he was almost tempted to bring it up. But he didn't. Reno had himself convinced that Reeve was making a fuss over nothing. He'd since concluded that maybe they were being secretive because they were going to unveil plans for oh, say... a new recycling center, and they didn't want Reeve to know because they wanted him to be pleasantly surprised that it was going to be named after him.

...okay, that was highly unlikely. But he still clung to that minute possibility.

He just didn't want anyone to be worried without cause.

But with that thought, he knew he was kidding himself. In truth, if he ever did bring it up, it would be admitting to the possibility of it being true, when in his mind, he had convinced himself otherwise. So Reno elected not to say anything.

He stepped out onto the concrete of Costa Del Sol harbor, squinting under the bright gaze of the setting sun. It brought out the lighter red highlights in his hair, and lined the side of his pale face with faint color. There were tons of people hurriedly rushing past him, but he maintained his usual slow, lazy pace. It was too hot to be rushed for anything.

This was a nice place and all, but he couldn't tan if his life depended on it. And the humidity made his hair curl. Reno was normally content with any place that had a bar, but at least Wutai had a milder climate. And there, people had the decency not to run around in Speedos.

"Come along, now..."

He glanced over to see a little girl who had strayed from her father's side. At his beckoning and gently-spoken words, she ran back to him, smiling widely as he scooped her up in his arms, affections reciprocated in her dad's caring expression. It was the ideal, picture-perfect example of the childhood he'd never had.

But that wasn't what made him stop walking. There was something about...

...that man's face.

An odd feeling settled in his stomach as he felt the impression that he knew this man from somewhere before. No, he _reminded_ him of someone.

His brow furrowed in frustrated thought. But who? With that tinge of apprehension he felt, he wasn't sure he wanted to explore.

Just then a familiar splash of dark brown edged his vision, and he saw that it was Tifa, who was walking ahead with Cloud. She looked back at him, flipping her hair to the side. Her eyes glittered with warmth, the red in her irises brought out by the sunlight, and she flashed him a smile that made his heart flip.

Involuntarily he returned the smile, the problems of a few seconds ago momentarily forgotten. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was vaguely wondering what had gotten into him; that surely this wasn't supposed to happen. But in that moment he was so immersed in her beauty and so hopelessly lost in the rush of emotions that passed through him when she so much as looked at him... he could care _less_.

And he was still grinning like an idiot long after she disappeared into the crowd.

Realizing this, Reno snapped out of it, cleared his throat, and subtly looked around to see if anyone has seen him. Then he resumed walking.

His nightstick, in its holster at his belt, slapped against his thigh with every stride. At one point it probably annoyed him, but it had since become a source of comfort. It was like his sunglasses; he just felt funny without them.

Reno found himself wondering what to do next. He was pretty thirsty so he figured he could get himself a drink and traipse around town afterword... as if he hadn't done _enough_ walking the past couple days. Ah well, it couldn't be helped.

With that he made his way to the nearest cafe, making it a point to avoid the bars.

*~*~*~*~* 

It was so beautiful out here.

Tifa sighed contently and rested her head on Cloud's shoulder. The air gently whipped around them, a welcome breeze. The horizon burned with color with the sun as it reflected off the water in acidic trickles. 

This was how she'd wanted it to be for a long time, just the two of them out here, on this beach. Alone together, finally.

And it was so calm. If she could she would stay in this moment forever, like that one night under the stars. That night before Sephiroth's defeat, when everyone else had gone home to their loved ones, but all they had was each other. It was the single moment of comfort, the quiet peace, the silent consolation... and finally the empty feeling of solitude that plagued her was gone.

They had spent the time talking, and looking out at the brilliant, placid horizon. She chuckled softly at something funny he'd said, and she lifted her head to look at him. His eyes were such a bright blue, clear cerulean in this light. They used to be unclear, a confused mako haze that mirrored the internal struggle of himself. But finally he was able to overcome it, no more complication hardening his features, the clarity back in his gaze. Some things never left him completely but he wasn't going to fall under again, not with her by his side.

Now those eyes were filled with admiration for her, and she thought she could see some mutual reflection of the feelings she no doubt had for him. Maybe she was strong enough. Maybe this time, she could....

Slowly she brought her hand up to his cheek, and made him face her. He looked directly into her eyes as they simpered with and underlying desire, a yearning. "...Cloud." It was now or never. 

Something flashed in his eyes, almost curiously, as she had said his name. What she desperately wanted to say, could, in essence, be sensed in that one word.

She didn't say anything else, but instead she leaned in a little more, until their faces were inches apart. She found herself hesitating, fear and anticipation increasing her heart rate. Should she tell him? Before she had resolved not to, because it would mean risking their friendship, what she valued most. But she wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do anymore, because she was silenced. She would have to live with this constant inner conflict, this uncertainty, and the terrible feeling that he was never going to know how she felt. It seemed like a worse prospect than telling him. She had to know. He wasn't resisting her. And she couldn't back out now.

She brought their faces closer yet, feeling elation in her heart with the thought that maybe he really did feel the same way. But at the last second, he started to say her name, and he turned his head; her fingers dragged across his jaw line as he pulled away, new fractures in her heart.

*~*~*~*~* 

Reno walked down the steps and onto the beach, treading slowly as not to get sand in his boots. It was getting pretty dark, the sun having nearly disappeared under the horizon. He was looking forward to seeing Tifa again, but the only person he happened to come across was Cloud. He was walking back in his direction, head down. Then he looked up and noticed Reno, something in his eyes quickly fading.

"Hey, where's Tif'?" Cloud glowered at him for addressing her with the endearing abbreviation of her name, and Reno rolled his eyes and added the "a" seconds later.

Cloud looked down again, then at the water, his eyes darkened in almost morose shadows. Shrugging a shoulder, he replied, "She... said she wanted to turn in early."

Reno twisted his face, half in frustration that he'd just missed her, half scoffing at how pathetic Cloud looked.

The spikey-haired blonde suddenly narrowed his eyes at him, suspicious. "Why do you ask?"

Returning the look, Reno sneered at him. Cloud's eyes were such a freakish blue in this light, it was almost intimidating. Almost.

"Just curious," he half-lied, taking sip out of the cup he was holding.

Cloud noticed the yellowish liquid in the glass. "Is that margarita mix?"

Reno frowned at his drink and said rather mutinously, "_No_. It's lemonade."

He looked surprised and amused at the same time. "...wow."

"Shut up!" Reno snapped. "It's good lemonade."

Not that he didn't think he probably should have started out his day with a nice mimosa or seven instead of a coffee, but he wasn't about to let Cloud know that.

Since Tifa wasn't down here, Reno had no business here out on this beach. He turned and went back up the steps, noticing Cloud was following him. Suddenly he smirked, realizing he could annoy him all he wanted because Tifa wasn't there to elbow him in the stomach. Or bash his head into Cloud's. Or pull his hair. No doubt this had occurred to Cloud as well.

"I see you're still hanging around to annoy me," Reno said smoothly, "but I'm not surprised. Cloud _does_ rhyme with proud, after all."

He glared at the Turk. "Yeah, and Reno rhymes with shut the hell up."

He stretched his mouth out in a crooked line. "That was a bad comeback."

"....." Cloud looked away, and Reno rolled his eyes in utter disbelief.

"Oh, now you're pullin' a _Rude_ on me. Come on, that's all you've got? You can't even say anything _remotely_ insulting. You're pathetic!"

It was steadily becoming darker, but he could still see that Cloud wasn't looking back at him. It didn't even seem that he was going to reply. Reno might have made another snide remark, but he decided to leave it at that. He wasn't so sure if he was in the mood himself, but at least he'd gotten the last word in.

Having only walked meters away from where Cloud stood, he heard him call out, "Oh--! Don't step on the flowers."

Immediately Reno stopped, and looked down at his feet. He had, indeed, been walking through a flower bed. And then it immediately came to him just why he'd said that.

He threw a sharp glare back at Cloud, who was wearing a smug grin on his face. Reno turned back around and huffed dismissively. "Ohh, go hug a tree."

*~*~*~*~* 

On the way back to his hotel room, Reno's mind idly wandered back to the father and daughter he'd seen earlier. Not that he wanted to think about it, but he couldn't help but wonder just who it was the man reminded him of. Somewhere between digging around in his pockets for the key card and unlocking the door, it hit him.

_It had been an assassination mission_.

Reno nearly dropped the key card. Hastily he went in through the door and leaned heavily against it until it shut. The loud click resounded in his ears, jerking him out of the memories he had begun to relive in his head.

He tried to reason with himself, tried to blow this off. He'd done so many missions like it... why did this one shake him up? Today he'd seen a face that reminded him of someone he once had to take out... big deal.

But that wasn't what was so overwhelmingly disconcerting. It was the thought of that little girl, that infinitely happy child in her father's arms, and he felt an unfamiliar pain -- stabbing remorse, as he wondered if he'd done that to people -- if he'd mercilessly taken away loved ones like that. If he were the cause of so much anguish and nightmares....

The thought had never occurred to him. Now that it had, he didn't know how to deal with it.

With a fast, haggard pace, he walked into the bathroom and fumbled blindly with the light. Once on, he he stared at his reflection in the mirror, leaning forward with his hands gripping both sides of the sink.

His blood-red hair hung over his face; both it and the dark slashes across his cheeks starkly contrasted his pale skin. And his eyes... they were the eyes of someone who had seen too much. They had been so sharp but now they were so dully morose... they reminded him more of _Cloud's_ than his own.

Reno couldn't bear to look at himself any longer. Exhaling raggedly, he bowed his head, willing to suppress this sudden flood of emotion. But he couldn't stop it as he thought of the little girl again, and this dark feeling weighed so heavily in his chest.

But it wasn't his fault! He hadn't known... he didn't know what he was doing then.

He snorted in spite of himself. As if what he'd done could be taken back by any apology.

Reno briefly wondered if he was going insane.

Taking a deep breath, he yanked the elastic band from his ponytail. 

He needed a shower.

A lobotomy didn't sound too bad, either.

*~*~*~*~* 

They were the only blows she could not fend herself against; the only punches she could not block.

They came at her fast and hard and inexorably. And they hurt in the worst way possible.

Tifa leaned back in her bed, her mind reeling with scenes of earlier that evening, her eyes brimming with tears, although determined not to cry.

She was so confused...

The things she'd told Reno she'd really truly believed, and they were true when it came to Cloud. She was convinced this was not just petty infatuation. There was no one else she felt so close to; she'd never felt anything so real.

Then why was it so _one-sided_?

With that thought it took everything into her power not to burst into tears. This angst, this constant insecurity... she'd been carrying it around for so long. And she was tired... tired of holding it in all the time, tired of having to bear this inner torture alone. She hadn't dared to tell anyone about it.

Suddenly she felt as if she were going to burst.

Tifa buried her face in her pillow, not allowing the tears she couldn't control to run down her face. So she was to continue to put herself through this, so she was doomed to silence.

But what else could she do...?

*~*~*~*~* 

If anyone who had met Reno and knew of his character would ever watch him sleep, they would be surprised at how remarkably vulnerable he looked. That indifferent, impervious visage he wore during the day was down, and the side of him he never let anyone see showed when he couldn't keep his guard up; when his dreams claimed him. None other than the darkness would bear witness. In his fitful slumber he looked younger, almost helpless.

Out of the complete stillness he jerked, and bolted upright in bed, his eyes wide open as the nightmare slowly faded from them. His vision was flashing, resounding in his ears with the loud, rapid pounding of his heart.

Realizing it had just been a bad dream he slumped forward, and his body gave way to a horrible shudder. He shut his eyes, only to see the dream play itself over in the backs of his eyelids. They were mostly old memories, ones he wasn't so proud of, some of them already recurring, others stirred up from what he had seen today. As he made some attempt to recompose himself, he wondered if they would ever leave, the old memories and the new guilt.

But he was still trembling, his breathing was still fast and shallow, and he was afraid to fall back asleep... he was afraid to close his eyes. He _hated_ seeing himself come apart like this. He hated not being able to contain himself.

It was only after a long while that Reno was finally able to calm down, the sheen of sweat on his skin dried. He looked down at his bare hands. In his nightmare there had been blood on them. 

He knew sleep wasn't coming tonight.

He continued to stare down at his hands, until he heard a knock on his door.

Startled, Reno looked over at it, hardly believing he'd heard. Who could be bothering him at this hour?

He got up out of bed, only to look down at himself. Realizing that he was only in his boxers, he figured it might be in his best interests to at least put on some pants. Quickly he did so, and while he was at it he threw on a shirt.

Reno opened the door, and though his eyes were already adjusted to the darkness, he had to blink several times. "Tifa?"

She smiled weakly. "Yeah. Can I... come in? I need to talk..."

She was in her pajamas, hugging herself as if she were cold. Her eyes were pleading, and she looked so restless. Reno was becoming increasingly concerned. He nodded, and let her in.

Closing the door behind Tifa, he turned his head at such an angle that some of his hair fell over his face. Normally he would have arrogantly swept it out of the way, but he didn't care to right now. He brushed it back from his face, and he noticed Tifa was watching him. Maybe because he looked so miserable, maybe because she had never seen him without his hair tied back in his usual loose ponytail.

Before she could say anything about either, he spoke. "We could talk outside..." He nodded toward the sliding doors at the other end of the room, which led out to a small balcony.

Once out onto it, he faced her. The sea breeze had tousled some of her own hair, and she exhaustedly reached up to fix it. Reno's own eyes complained, but he knew he couldn't go back to sleep, no matter how much he wanted to.

"So what's all this about?" He couldn't help his easy tone of voice. He was more concerned than he let on.

Tifa was silent for a while. It seemed to be a struggle for her to get anything out. "It's about Cloud."

Reno thought she was going to elaborate, but as the seconds stretched by it became obvious that she wasn't.

"...could you be more _vague_?" He could have kicked himself as soon as that came out. He hadn't meant to be sarcastic.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, giving it another try. After a moment she looked as if she were about to say something, but then she looked up at him with such painful clarity in her eyes that stirred up something in Reno he didn't like the feeling of... the next moment she threw her arms around his neck, and and he was slightly uncomfortable with their sudden physical proximity.

But then she started to cry.

Her sobs were muffled in the shoulder of his clothing. They were so quiet, so feather-soft. Her body wracked with such grief that he could feel in his own chest. It struck a chord in him. He was not familiar with it, and he didn't want to be. His eyes started to burn, he was so numbly overcome.

Instinctively Reno put his arms around her and held her tight. He closed his eyes, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Tifa..." he breathed.

He just wanted her to stop crying. There was something about it that made him want to break down too, in spite of his pride. He almost wanted to grieve with her, he wanted all this pain to be taken away. Both his, _and_ her own.

But the tears kept coming in earnest. There was nothing he could do but hold her and let her cry into his shoulder. He became frustrated at himself as he felt that it wasn't enough. Reno wondered with indignation if Cloud knew what he was doing to her, that he was the cause of all these tears. 

Finally her crying subsided, and she lifted her head up. She tried explaining everything to him, all the while her tears threatening to come back. He didn't want her to push it because he hated how it made him feel to see her like this. He didn't like what seeing her cry was doing to him. She was playing his heartstrings... and he couldn't do a thing about it.

They later found themselves leaning against the railing, shoulder to shoulder, staring out across the sand. Tifa had told him all she could. She still looked miserable, but at least she wasn't crying. Reno had his chin resting on the palm of his hand and she was resting her head on his shoulder. He did not feel uncomfortable being this close to her at all.

"Lately I've been thinking more... about leaving him."

"...maybe you should." He gently swept a few strands of hair from her eyes; it was black silk between his fingers. She had such undefiled beauty. Cloud was unworthy of her.

Tifa sniveled, blinking wet eyelashes. "If I did that... then I'd be all alone."

Reno bit back the words that came to mind. _But you're here with me_.

Suddenly she wiped her eyes, becoming self-conscious. "Oh, just look at me," she almost chuckled. "I've been crying so much, my eyes must look terrible."

"No, they're beautiful." He wasn't being sarcastic. He wasn't flirting. For once he was sincere.

Reno looked back at her, moonlight reflecting off the sheen of her tear-stained cheeks. Dullness was upon her eyes. And he once more felt a pang of loneliness, the cavity in his chest. If only she were his. He wouldn't do this to her. He would never be the cause of these tears.

Slowly she brought her head up to look at him. The sharp liveliness was gone from his eyes. But somewhere in the lackluster she could see a yearning.

He leaned closer in until she could feel his breath caressing her cheek. Gripped by the moment, he brought his hand up to the arc of the back of her neck, slowly tilting her head up to his. Everything seemed to happen so slowly, yet she couldnÕt think to move. And when his lip grazed hers... time seemed to stop.

She trembled in his arms as he began to kiss her. It wasn't harsh or uncaring, but so gentle and sweet. She found herself closing her eyes.

How many nights had she dreamed of this? For how long had she yearned to be held, and shown this kind of affection? It was what she'd been waiting forever for. It was all she ever wanted. Her pulse was racing and she could feel the knife-like beating of his heart against hers. She was hopelessly lost in the euphoria until she remembered.

...this wasn't Cloud. It wasn't Cloud who was showing her this affection.

Breaking the embrace and that lull that had settled over her mind, Tifa pulled away, pressing her palms gently against his chest. "...Reno, I......"

Still under the deluge, he tentatively let go of her. He sighed, not able to meet her gaze, hating how vulnerable he felt. "Yeah......I know..." he said quietly, determined not to let to let it show.

The next moment was awkward silence, neither of them able to face each other. Tifa muttered an apology, then quickly turned and left.

Reno breathed steadily as the fire in his veins burned away to nothing. He slumped back against the railing, disbelieving what he'd just done, the emptiness in his heart filled with blame and frustration. He buried his face in his hands, one clear thought going through his mind.

_Cloud, you _idiot.

  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: Aww ;__; poor Reno. Poor Tifa! I would just like to say that that right up there ^ is the first attempt I've ever made at romance. EVER. So... my apologies if you think it sucked major potatoes. And before the Reno/Tifa fans start throwing things, I'll have you know that I've got other plans for a R/T that have been floating around in my head the past couple months. I'll undoubtedly start on that right after I finish this fic... which shouldn't be too far off. But you know what? When I started out on this story I didn't even think there was going to BE romance in it. And I certainly wasn't expecting to like the Reno/Tifa pairing so darn much, so I just had to dip into it. I really hated putting Reno through this, but it's only necessary to precipitate into something that'll happen later. 

Sometimes I have to remind myself -- this is about HIM. He's the one who jumped out at me one day for some reason or another, the one with the infinitely laid-back, carefree facade, in spite of his profession -- what would happen if he cracked? I think that's what I found so intriguing about him to begin with. No, I'm not a silly crazed fan girl. I'm not going to declare him my love muffin in all caps and demand that all of you stay away... good heavens. That would just be insane.

So anyway.... there's not that many more chapters to go. Sorry for almost taking two months to update, but this was such a hard chapter to put out(this one's longer than normal though). Next installment: I think we'll see some more familiar faces, and Reno's gonna tell Cloud a thing or two, among other things.

Sorry, jusy one more thing (I'm tryin' not to get too lengthy here)... for the last chapter alone it seems out of nowhere I got fourteen reviews. And the norm per chapter, before that, was like FOUR. So I was just... *_* Whoaa. Thanks sooooo much to all who reviewed! Do tell me what you think of this one. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Reno woke up to the morning sunlight glaring him in the face.

He lifted his groggy head and slowly blinked his sleep-heavy eyes, for the time being lost in that blessed moment where you don't have any recollection of anything; that wonderful second of complete ignorance. But all too soon it faded away, as his mind cleared and he remembered.

Last night. He sank back into the covers. _Tifa_.

The mere thought of her name was too much. He groaned, rolled over and swore profusely. He cursed himself for letting her get under his skin... for letting her get to him like that. What had he been thinking last night, what had gotten into him?

Reno hid his face under the sheets, curling up tight. He wanted to be anywhere but here. He didn't want to have to face her again. How would he ever be able to?

He wished this had all just been a nightmare. A long, hellish dream that he would be waking up from on the puke-colored carpet of his crummy apartment in Lower Junon. It would still be that time when he was in the shadow of blissful ignorance of things he'd rather not have found out. He realized that time was less than a week ago, but how he missed those days before Elena and Rude barged back into his life, before things got complicated, before he started questioning himself and his convictions -- or perhaps lack thereof. He had never been so confused, the line had never gotten so blurry. But there was a feeling in him that it had been that way a long time... he'd just never bothered to look at it, with wide open eyes. He'd never _wanted_ to.

Nicotine cravings distracted him from his troubling thoughts and gave him the needed resolve to face the light of day. Uncurling himself, he leaned over to snatch his cigarettes and lighter off the cheap nightstand. All the while he wondered how he'd been able to fall asleep, even if it had only been a couple hours. The cure for insomnia is insomnia, after all.

After lighting his cigarette, Reno stayed leaning over the edge of the bed, his head down, facing the floor. His limp hair fell forward, a scarlet veil over the side of his face. Not bothering to brush it back, he took a deep, long drag of his cigarette, caring less if he got ashes on the carpet. He lapsed back into his reverie, the smoke curling thoughtfully in the air around him.

This was just what Elena had warned him against, wasn't it? He shouldn't have gotten too close -- he'd been stupid to think he could. The last time AVALANCHE came into the picture, his life went straight to hell. They were back, and they'd messed everything up _again_.

It was further unnerving that he couldn't stay angry at Tifa. After last night, especially, he should have gone back to hating their freaking guts. But try as he might, he just couldn't when it came to her. The resentment he was sure he should have been feeling toward her ebbed away at the thought of her crying, pouring her heart out, as she had last night. The indignation built up in him again as he thought of Cloud, who wasn't as stupid as he seemed, but was still completely oblivious to Tifa's unrequited love for him.

For the life of him, Reno couldn't fathom... what did she SEE in Cloud? She could go up to him and flat-out yell, "KISS ME, YOU FOOL!" And what would go though his thick head but maybe the Meow Mix commercial jingle?

It drove him absolutely insane. Even in all this, Tifa still didn't hate him. It wasn't her fault that the person she ached over and longed for was an oblivious moron. 

Reno wondered why he was trying to stay angry at her, when he had Cloud to blame.

He would have to get up soon. Eventually he would have to go and face these people whom he wanted nothing to do with anymore. He wished he didn't have to, but there was no way he could bail out now.

It wouldn't be so bad, he reassured himself. As long as he didn't look at or acknowledge her, everything would be okay. They would get this pointless mission over with, he'd get his money, and he'd never see her again.

He'd just have to bite the bullet and deal with it. They were almost through with this stupid, retched assignment.

It wouldn't be much longer, now. But he felt the end couldn't come soon enough.

*~*~*~*~* 

Tifa wondered if things could get any more awkward.

Cloud became despondent and stopped saying much to her. Reno went back to being withdrawn, and things were extremely uncomfortable for her whenever she was around him. He didn't show much emotion at all, but in the way he avoided her gaze, she could tell he felt the same. She wasn't sure what to say... or if she should say anything at all. Tifa couldn't look either of them in the eye anymore.

Absently, she gazed out at the overcast sky, and couldn't help but think how fitting this dreary weather was. When she got tired of that, she turned and faced the interior of the cockpit. The three of them had boarded the Highwind, as Cid had orders to swing by and take them to their last destination. There was no one else in the cockpit except for Cid and a pilot-in-training, Gary. His mastered pilot had fallen ill, so this was his replacement. It was a good thing that this arrangement was temporary, because he was incompetent, shy, and terrified of Cid. Gary couldn't be much younger than Tifa, and he seemed unable to keep his eyes off her --

"DAMMIT, GARY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOIN'!!!"

The airship narrowly dodged a precipice jutting out from one of the Corel mountains.

"Eeaggghhh!!! Sorry, Captain!"

Tifa figured she shouldn't be hanging around any longer in the cockpit, where she was obviously a distraction. She soundlessly made her way out into the metal corridor, unbeknownst to Cid, who was still in the process of rebuking a very mortified Gary.

She slowed her pace, realizing she wasn't headed in any particular direction. Wherever she was going to go, it certainly wouldn't be anywhere near Reno or Cloud. They'd dispersed when they'd gotten on the airship. She had no idea where either of them would be, and she had no desire to know.

"Hey, Tif', wait up..."

Sighing, she turned back around to face Cid, anticipating what this would be about. Suspicion and concern creased his features, as well as underlined his gruff tone of voice. "What's goin' on here?"

He'd noticed how weird things had gotten between the three of them. It would be hard _not_ to sense the tension, considering how openly they were avoiding each other.

She knew he was going to bring this up, but she really didn't want to talk about it. "Cid..."

"Why arent you talkin' to Cloud? I been lookin' forward to seein' you guys again, but you've all been ignorin' each other -- _and me_. Now what's the deal here? If it has anything to do with that Turk, I'll--"

"No!" Tifa interjected, and tried to calm down Cid, who was angrier than Barret in a sailor suit. "It's not that at all..."

"Then what is it?"

She didn't want to answer to that. "Cid, I really don't..."

He crossed his arms. "Nope... you're not goin' ANYWHERE until you tell me what's wrong."

Tifa bit her lip, stalling herself. As the silence drew out, Cid just stared expectantly back at her, with an I-can-wait-all-day look on his face. She was cornered. There was no way out. No matter how much she just wanted to blow this off and get away from here, she would have to tell him what had been going on. 

Still unsure of how to begin, she opened her mouth to speak.

_--CRASH_!

The airship jolted violently, throwing them both against the wall.

Cid cursed under his breath, and helped Tifa up. "You okay?"

Gingerly rubbing her side, all but relieved for the interruption, she exhaled. "Yeah."

The door to the cockpit burst open. It was one of Cid"s assistants, who was looking very urgent. "Captain... it's Gary."

Flustered, Cid muttered a string of profanities. "Do _I_ have to monitor him the whole time?!" He grumbled something or other about incompetence, and followed his assistant back into the cockpit. Abruptly stopping at the doorway, he whirled around and faced Tifa. "We'll finish this later," he vowed. "Don't think you're off the hook just yet."

Tifa smiled weakly and nodded, and as soon as the big metal door closed behind him, she allowed herself to let out a sigh of relief. 

That had been too close.

Then, realizing that she should find something to do other than stand there, she decided to walk in the opposite direction, down the corridor. But she'd hardly turned around when she ran into someone.

She found herself looking into the eyes of Reno, if only for a second.

*~*~*~*~* 

His heart did a painful jerk in his ribcage, and pounded furiously as he barely held on to his composure. She'd caught him off guard, and he hated what it was doing to him.

The two of them sort of drew back in surprise. He couldn't bear to look at her for longer than a moment, but she seemed as startled as he felt. Avoiding eye contact, she clumsily mumbled an apology, and brushed past him, briskly walking down the hall.

He turned his head, and his gaze followed her as she went, steadfast in defeated desire. Dejection and longing flared in his constricted chest, though he knew he shouldn't be feeling this way. But this wasn't as simple as he'd earlier thought it would be. This was much harder than he'd anticipated.

These feelings for her, they hadn't stopped. They were supposed to... but they hadn't. It had been easy enough telling himself he didn't care, but now that he was around her, he just couldn't help it. He wanted to stop feeling this way about her... but what he wouldn't give for her to feel the same way about him, to be so close to her again...

"Reno."

He tore his gaze away from the end of the corridor, from which Tifa had since disappeared. Slowly he brought his head back around, and regarded Cloud with a kind of contempt reserved only for him.

"What do _you_ want?"

From the way Cloud was looking at him, he realized he'd seen that whole ordeal with Tifa. There was something very dull and metallic in his gaze; the way mako reflected the metal around them. It caused his eyes to take on more of a gray, steely color than the usual freakish blue.

"To talk," he said simply.

Reno could already guess the topic, but asked anyway. "About what?" He made sure he sounded skeptical and annoyed.

Cloud opened the door to a nearby cargo room, and gestured him inside. Reno wasn't ecstatic to be alone with this guy, but he quickly decided that if any attempts were made to lob his head off with that butcher knife, he wouldn't hesitate to use his nightstick.

With a cold air of passive cooperation, Reno went in, and Cloud closed the door behind them. For a moment he looked around the dimly lit room, seeing that it was for the most part empty. Then he cut his sharp gaze to Cloud's, diamond meeting with steel.

"I've noticed," the blonde began with suppressed vindictiveness, "how weird things have suddenly gotten between me and Tifa. And I've also noticed how you've been watching her. I have reason to believe you tried something last night."

"No," Reno said, then more truthfully added, "Not really."

No sooner had he figured that he could have gone without that last part than Cloud had him by the collar, pinned against the wall.

Reno did not appreciate this kind of treatment. "Nothing happened!" he nearly yelled in annoyance. Cloud still held him against the wall, glowering murderously. Reno glared right back into the dense mako flame, seeing the poorly guarded, underlying insecurity behind his eyes. _So pathetic_.

And it was about time he turned the tables. "Wait, what do YOU care?"

Cloud sneered at him, his brow furrowing in irritated confusion. "What? Of course I care. She _knows_ I care about her."

"That's not what she told me last night."

That was yet something else Reno could have worded a little better. But instead of dicing him to pieces, Cloud's threatening expression had melted into blank disbelief.

"She... told you......?"

"Yup," Reno nodded, shrugging off Cloud's now-loose grip. "She thinks you don't love her."

He was not one to use that word so casually, and he certainly wasn't used to talking about this. So it felt funny saying it, and those words left a bad taste in his mouth.

Cloud seemed to have gone into a confused trance. He shook his head. "No... I don't believe it..."

At that moment, Reno felt an overwhelming urge to grab Cloud by the two biggest spikes on his head and repeatedly bash his face into the wall. He squeezed his eyes shut, disbelieving this man's ignorance, and willed that impulse away. "You know... for a closet intellectual, you're really STUPID when it comes to this kind of thing."

As if he hadn't heard, he looked down at the floor, wondering aloud. "Why does she want _me_...?"

Reno did not realize that the more he kept distressfully grabbing at his hair, the more it was starting to resemble Cloud's. It was an unruly halo around his head, scarlet and furious. "What the -- YOU'RE CLOUD-FRIGGIN'-STRIFE! They let you get away with not combing your hair! Why not take the girl, too?!!" 

"No, I can't." Cloud shook his head, apparently ashamed and in self-denial all of a sudden. "I don't deserve her... why don't you just take her?"

Reno almost laughed in spite of everything, just to relieve his frustration. He was confused; he was the last person who should be telling him this. He tried to spell it out for him, tried to get it through his thick head. "She... doesn't... WANT... me...." Inside he almost wanted to scream, hearing those words come from himself... it seemed to set it all in stone. It made him feel devastation he knew was supposed to be trivial; he shouldn't have cared. All that was clear to him now was how much he wanted to beat some sense into this ignorant man in front of him, who was so willing to deny what he'd take in a second.

He got a grip on himself; he inhaled and raked a hand through his hair, taking advantage of Cloud's silence.

"Listen, I never liked you. You were always one of those guys I'd hate to sit behind at a movie theater. Frankly, I don't think you deserve her, either, and I don't know WHAT she sees in you. But she's at the end of her rope. You've been stringin' her along this whole time, getting her hopes up -- she doesn't know what to do anymore. But if you keep this up, she's gonna leave you. FOR GOOD. Do you know what that means?! It means you'll be a lonely FREAK," he spat, hoping the unresponsive idiot in front of him was hearing him out, "with nothing better to do... than sit around and wonder what went wrong, and CONTEMPLATE YOUR MENTAL PROBLEMS ALL DAY!!!"

Reno took a deep breath. His voice had risen considerably by the end of his paroxysm. He carefully eyed Cloud, who who was looking away, his head titled slightly down. His hair obscured much of the light from his face, and shadows consumed the barrel of his mouth, the sockets of his eyes.

He had nothing to say for himself.

Deciding he had no more business here, Reno obligingly turned and walked out the door, leaving Cloud alone in the silence with his thoughts.

  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Author's Note: Well, there you have it... another way overdue update by yours truly. "It's about time!" you say. "Quit slackin', 'Soul!" Well, that's some good news for ya, because I CAN'T slack off. Not anymore. You see, I've made it a personal goal to put up a chapter a month so I will be officially done with Strife by my one-year anniversary... which is in April. And that means, of course, that there's only two more chapters to go. ;_; Makes me sad.

So anyway... yess, things aren't going so well with the trio, are they? Tifa is still very upset, Cloud seems to have some sort of inferiority complex, and things are all but crashing down on Reno. Um... suffice it to say that Nibelheim won't help matters.

Well, that's about it. As always, thanks for the feedback, people. And leave a review -- if you haven't already forgotten about me, that is! 


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Cloud inhaled a deep breath, and took in the view of the town with an injured sort of meticulousness he couldn't help. It was a sight of all shades of gray, houses rising like broken headstones up out of the smoky mist. This place was still as death -- you can sense it in the air -- and somewhere in the whirlwind maze inside of his head, he could still remember...

He could still remember everything that happened here with vividness, such painful accuracy. Wherever his eyes fell, illusions of fire and blood and smoldering wood followed. He could still feel the intense heat, the muted terror that filled him up as it had that day.

And off in the distance, toward the Shinra mansion, he could almost see a retreating silver beacon against a wall of fire.

A sudden cold breeze whipped around him, the whispers of a hundred restless souls. He felt permeable to the icy gale, helpless to everything.

This town hadn't changed a bit. He'd been hoping it had, but it was still the same dreaded place that scourged him with painfully real memories everywhere he looked.

To him this town would always be a monochrome, a lasting portrayal of everything lost and massacred; death-ridden and unescapable. It would stand forever still in defeated aftermath of the chaos that once ravaged here, that still ravaged his mind.

It was Nibelheim, his frozen hell.

*~*~*~*~* 

Shifting his weight, Reno bowed his head slightly, and stole a sideways glance at Tifa.

Things between the three had gone from bad to worse to pathetic. Now that they hardly said anything to each other, this whole thing seemed to have turned into some bad stare-longingly-at-someone-before-they-notice game. Reno wanted nothing to do with it, but he just couldn't help it. He would throw a yearning glance at Tifa when her head was turned, and she would stare longingly at Cloud when his back was to her. Cloud would sometimes return this gesture, with a rather hopeless look on his face.

It was deplorable and it was awkward. He didn't know how much longer he could stand it.

And this town wasn't very welcoming; something just seemed off about it. There were hardly any residents, and overall it was very depressing. The weather was crummy, too... it was slightly foggy and he couldn't see the sun, though he was sure it would be setting by now. Not that a sunny day could lift his spirits, anyway.

More and more Reno found himself thinking back to the simpler times, the seemingly carefree days when he'd say things that would make Tifa laugh and Cloud fume. But everything became so incredibly complicated in such a short period of time.

Falling for her was thus far the stupidest thing he'd done. There was no way for him to just take back those feelings, even if he knew they weren't reciprocated.

And now because of it, every glimpse of her felt like a kick in the chest.

What bothered him so much was not only that, but their new employer with unclear intentions, not to mention that little girl which brought the triggered memories and unwelcome realization that caused him to consider his hands. The slow burn of pentinence flared up at the mere thought of it. Sometimes it was too much; it would almost feel like the weight of everything would collapse in on his chest.

Suddenly, he felt strangled in his disposition... or maybe it was just this heavy, leaden air. He turned and went inside the inn, for sake of having somewhere to go, instead of watching the view of the gray town and the pale sky... as well as for the sake of not being around Tifa any longer.

*~*~*~*~* 

The stars were surely mocking her tonight.

She had always loved to gaze up at them, millions of twinkling diamonds against a canvas of midnight, had always admired their vast and endless beauty. The sight was awe-inspiring and very romantic, and had always filled her with some sense of hope. It was so easy to lose herself in the star-filled heavens; they made up some of her best memories of Nibelheim.

But tonight... she couldn't see them. She only found herself gazing up into swirls of black marble, harsh and impersonal. It felt like some cruel trick of nature that the stars would be lost behind the overcast sky, on this night when she felt she really needed them.

She had tried searching for them, looking hard for any hint of twinkling, any beacon of hope, but the sky was coldly opaque, as if nothing was ever behind it.

Tifa sighed, dropping her head down. The familiar rough feel of the wood beneath her gave reassurance, if only for a moment. She was reminded of entirely too many things, being down here at the well again. It made her wonder if she should be putting herself through this, but she wasn't sure if she could handle setting foot in her old house... there was just no place easier to be at. She had no idea how late it was, but she wasn't tired at all.

Absently she swung her legs over the ledge as she always used to. She remembered a long time ago, perhaps since that night before the end of Meteor, she'd thought that she and Cloud would start a new life as soon as it was all over.

_As soon as it was all over_. She could have laughed at herself. It had been almost a _ year _ since it was all over...

And he _ still _ didn't know.

One thing was for sure... she certainly had never anticipated being this miserable.

Trying not to become so embittered, she attempted to occupy her mind with something less despairing. No sooner than she had found a more pleasant memory to dwell on, she heard footsteps coming around the side of the well. She could tell by the gait who it was... just the last person she wanted to see tonight.

He stopped tentatively in the corner of her eye, waited in short silence.

"Tifa..." Cloud could not help the unsure, almost insecure tone that edged his voice. He knew he would be able to find her at this well. He moved in closer to her... was it his imagination, or was the air somehow clearer down here?

She did not look at him. "Why are you up?" she inquired. Her words felt so forced to her, mechanical.

He was standing next to Tifa now, looking down at her. At length he replied, "Couldn't sleep." Their conversations had lost their casual levity.

Cloud sat down next to her, and for the first time she wished he would leave her alone. She could not help and hated what it was doing to her, the way her pulse raced and her face heated up; now she dreaded being so close to him. It was pitiful.

Willing her face to stop burning, she studied the wood grains of the well underneath her, deciding they were better to fix her gaze on than Cloud or the uncaring skies. Not wanting to encourage him to be out here longer than he already was, she did nothing more to acknowledge his presence. She allowed the silence between them to stretch longer, as uncomfortable as it may have been, but she told herself she didn't care anymore.

He wordlessly watched her profile, unsure of what to say. "Tifa," he ventured, trying to get her to react to anything he did. Was this what their relationship had come down to, avoidance and hollow conversation? He was discouraged, suddenly very wary of the broken affinity between them.

Tifa didn't give him so much as a glance. "Why did you come down here?"

The tone of her voice was further discouraging. "...because I need to tell you something."

She didn't want to hear what he would have to say but decided not to object. They lapsed into silence again until Tifa waved her hand, almost impatiently motioning for him to get on with it.

Cloud stalled even longer, trying to sort through his troubled thoughts. He didn't know how to begin; he was no longer sure why he came here. "I've been thinking lately," he finally said, staring down at his hands for lack of anything else, "about us..." She dreaded what he was going to say next, but otherwise did nothing. He struggled with his words a little more, blinked several times, conscious of this sudden pall over his heart. "I'm sorry," he ended lamely, desperate for better words that never came to him.

Turning her head, she looked at him, feeling confused and angry and very vulnerable. "For what?" she wanted to ask, but forgot how to say it. He couldn't be doing this, not now... he couldn't be saying what she always wanted to but now could not bear to hear.

Tifa shook her head in disbelief. "Cloud, don't..."

But he went on in earnest, still watching his hands. "It's not like I didn't know how you feel. But I didn't understand why you did. And now, look what I've let happen..." He shook his head as if to clear it, wearily blinking his burning eyes.

"But why..." Tifa asked as he brought himself to look at her, "Why _now_...?" She felt she had no control over the tears that were threatening to spill; her anger faded and old feelings stirred back up. This was too much, she couldn't take it any longer. 

He could see what he had done to her, all the anguish he'd caused, and wondered once again why he had come down here. Tifa, she was too good for him. He feared he was too late, that he'd messed things up for good this time. If she didn't already hate him, he thought she should. "I'm sorry," he said again, "It's not that I don't care about you, because I do. You mean too much to me, you're probably the only thing that went right in my life. I didn't think you'd actually want _me_, I didn't believe it at first..." Unable to behold the lucid sadness in her gaze, he looked away. "But I didn't realize what it was doing to you. I always thought one of these days you'd snap out of it and leave me."

She wanted to hug him and at the same time she wanted to punch him. But she felt too weak to do either. "What? I would never have... why would you think like that?"

He exhaled a shaky breath. "I'm not the same," he said, "I'm -- there's too much wrong with me. I can't forget what happened... I can hardly sleep without nightmares."

_That_ was why...? "Oh, Cloud..." Tifa threw her arms around his neck; he kept his arms slack at his sides. "You're not in this alone. I know it's hard... but I've stuck by you through everything, haven't I?"

Cloud said nothing but leaned forward and closed any space left between them and held her tight, sighing deeply in grateful relief, feeling those old miseries in his heart ebb away, both his sorrows and her own. They were elated, too immersed in each other to notice someone else in the shadows, who had unfortunately come into view of them just as they finally embraced.

*~*~*~*~* 

Reno sat alone in the dark, smoking, watching the time pass by on the alarm clock with dry eyes. He reached over for another cigarette but noticed he'd chain-smoked the whole pack. Heaving a tired, impatient sigh, he tossed the empty carton on the floor and lay back in the bed, for lack of any better way to kill time. He closed his eyes and lay still, realizing how tired he was, yet knowing falling asleep would be an entirely different thing.

After a moment he fitfully turned over onto his side, tried to focus on getting rest. But his mind was too troubled, it wouldn't shut off. He was haunted by what he'd seen. 

He had only gone out for a smoke, exploring the town a little because he didn't want to just stay inside the whole time. And when he'd seen them like that... well, he'd hardly watched them for a second, but that was all it took. He hadn't _meant_ to come across them... if he'd known what they were doing he wouldn't have gone anywhere near there.

It bothered him entirely too much.

Ashamed for feeling so trivially devastated, he found it easier to focus on blaming Cloud, who in his opinion was the last person on the planet who deserved Tifa's undying affection.

But then the thought occurred to Reno that he might have helped bring this about... which would be all fine and good, if it weren't for the fact that he STILL CARED. He curled up, could have whimpered out of sheer frustration at the thought. Why couldn't he just forget about her? He should have seen this coming, but he went right along and fell hard for some girl who will never feel the same way about him. He silently cursed his vulnerability, this feeling instilled in him to want to love and be loved by someone else.

Oh, what _happened_ to him? What drove him to come apart like this, agonizing over somebody? He used to be able to shut feelings out at will, but he couldn't anymore. It almost felt like it wasn't enough being a Turk, as the very name had been called into question. He was no longer sure where his pride stood, and he feared he had lost his control over his emotions. It was so disheartening, he wasn't even sure who he was anymore.

He turned over again, still staring at the backs of his eyelids, stretching out into new and comfortable positions that never stayed that way. It took forever but he was finally falling asleep, sinking into oblivion ignorant of his own problems, hopefully free of dreams.... until he heard _ringing_.

It was muffled, right on the edge of his hearing, but that was all it took to cut through to his conscience and jolt him from sleep. His eyes snapped open as he heard the accursed noise again.

It was his PHS.

Reno swore, rubbing his bleary eyes. He was as good as wide awake now.

He leaned over the side of the bed and blindly fumbled through his things. _This had BETTER be an emergency..._ finally he pulled out the phone, now ringing loudly, its little green screen glaring back at him. "Talk to me," he answered into it. Somehow he'd miraculously maintained that casual quality in his voice, though it may have been a little rough on account of his not having said anything in hours.

There was no reply on the other end.

"HELLO?" He tried again, losing whatever little patience he had.

"...........Reno."

He furrowed his brow, unable to immediately identify the caller. That voice was familiar to him, and so distinctive... his eyes widened in the dark as it came to him altogether. "_Rude_?!"

At length there was a reply: "...yes."

"Hey, man, it's nice talkin' to you again, but -- er," he glanced over at the alarm clock, which read just after three-thirty. "I was sorta... tryin' to sleep."

"...I know. The company told me to give you your new orders."

"Huh?" He scoffed at their amateurish infrastructure; at least Shinra was better organized. Or maybe they'd finally realized how pointless their current assignment was. "Oh, I figured this would come up. We're probably gonna have to pick up garbage, aren't we?"

"...no."

Reno dreaded what environment-friendly task they would have to complete. He wanted this to be _over_, he didn't want to have to do anything else with Cloud OR Tifa. "Are we gonna build a happy little animal shelter, then? Plant a friendship garden, maybe?"

".....what? No."

"Then what is it?" he inquired flatly. "Come on, the suspense is killing me."

Reno could almost hear the ellipses through the phone. He impatiently drummed his fingers on one knee, waiting, until he finally got a reply: "They want you to kill Cloud Strife."

Now it was Reno's turn to be silent. The blood drained from his face, an odd sort of feeling crept up his spine and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He wasn't quite sure he had heard right. "...what?"

"You heard me." Rude, already a man of terribly few words, didn't like to repeat himself.

The true nature of his mission -- however confusing -- was slowly setting in. "So THAT'S why they stuck me with them? They just wanted the leader of AVALANCHE out of the way so they could....." Well, he wasn't sure what they were trying to do. "....man, it's almost like I'm working for another Shinra--" 

"That shouldn't matter to you."

And he was right, it shouldn't. But it still did.

Reno didn't know exactly how they expected him to pull this off... or if he'd even be able to. He sighed and distressfully rubbed his face, apprehension filling him up. "Rude, I'm -- I...."

"...so what're you saying, you're not up for the job? What's happened to you, Reno? Don't tell me you've let them get to you..."

He looked down and thought of that little girl again, of the memories and affliction, and the guilt lost somewhere in his chest. He shook his head, couldn't think of how to begin to explain. "Rude. You don't understand..."

"No, _you_ don't understand. You were never meant to question what you're supposed to do. So this is no different than our last job... it doesn't matter. Just play the hand you're dealt."

Reno was afraid he'd already betrayed that principle. He took in a deep breath, found his voice after a long moment. "I _can't_."

But Rude had already hung up.

He pressed the end button on his PHS, stared down at it long after the green light disappeared.

What was he going to do? 

He immediately shook the thought from his head. There was no question of what he had to do. He quickly decided it didn't matter to him, he couldn't have hated Cloud Strife more -- he was an oblivious, bed-headed, undeserving nutcase who STILL got the girl in the end. He was also why Reno had lost his first job... he had every _reason_ to hate him.

He decided it might not be so hard after all.

Again he lay back in bed, creaking the springs, knowing full well he wasn't sleeping any more tonight. Faint moonbeams poured in through the window, etched his lean form out of the darkness with pale light. As he fought to regain his Turk mentality, he wondered just what it meant to him now. It was an ill-fated legacy that he was bound to for life, until the bitter end. It was his disposition. There was no room for remorse, no room for humanity. He was to remain indifferent. That was how a Turk was supposed to be. That was who he was.

Reno looked at his hands, vectors of nightmares for himself and probably countless others, and thought of what he would have to commit. Tomorrow was his last day. He heaved a wavering sigh, finding himself ultimately torn. How he wished he could believe what Rude had said. But Tifa...

With silent apology, he hoped he would be long gone tomorrow before she would see what he'd done.

  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: ....alright, I'm... not exactly sure what to say first. Err.... right, so it turned out to be CloTi. And... considering I attracted more Re/T fans, there are probably alot of people upset with me right now. But that's how this was planned all along, folks. The story just wouldn't work out as well if I put Reno with Tifa, anyway(don't get your knickers in a twist, I'm gonna write one of those after this fic is over with). I'd elaborate, but I'm trying to keep this short, and you'll just have to see for yourself. 

I'm afraid I've let the romance aspect take center stage for awhile. But I think there's always been an underlying angsty side pertaining to Shinra and all the guilt/memories associated with it, which is more related to the central theme of this story. Gah, this is not a kill-off-Cloud fic, it's a Reno fic; it STARTED with and it's gonna END with him. It's something of an introspection. Everything's coming down on him, he's enlightened to what he'd done in the past, he's carrying the sudden weight of all his transgression. And now that he finds himself in this situation, will he go through with it? Can he shrug off this vice grip Shinra has always had on him, and find hope of redemption? There, that's something like it in a nutshell.

Hoo boy, I'm not too late with the update this time around.... I've got about three weeks to get the last chapter up -_-'. I felt real crummy about this installment, it was so hard to write because I don't know how you people will react to it. But tell me what you think anyway, eh? I greatly appreciate reviews (even the late ones, they always seem to come at the right time^^)! So until then... *anxiously waits*... 


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

He remembered the morning after, the first day since the dust settled and the blood-red sky fell. The sun came up over the horizon, shadows growing shorter and shorter, until everything -- even the city -- was bathed in light. When he thought of Midgar he was always reminded of the darkness, of smog and gunmetal silver and the poisoned horizon, a city choking in its own strife. But to see the dead metropolis with dawn rising just behind it, glowing with edges of eternity, filled him with an almost overwhelming feeling... as if something very formidable here had just blown over with very profound finality.

It was almost beautiful, in this calm after the storm, that the sun was blessing Midgar for the first time. It was ironic, he mused, that the city was only worthy of it now, as it lay in destruction.

_It's finally over..._

Any relief that came with that thought was forgotten as he remembered the mark left on him by Shinra, and couldn't help but feel he should have gone down with it. Out of defiance he shut his eyes and turned away, left in obstruction by the shadow of his own fault, and knew with dismal certainty that he would never be touched by the light, not even in ruin.

  


...and so he would not come apart.

That morning Reno had come out to the hallway of the inn, leaning against the wall next to the window, a lit cigarette pressed between his lips. It had taken an entire night of mental and emotional preparation to get himself back where he used to be. He'd kept his head tilted downward, waiting calmly, even soon before he would go through with what he'd had to do... just like a Turk, level-headed and hard-hearted.

Tifa and Cloud had come out, and he'd hid behind his thick veil of smoke, not turning his head to look up at either of them until they'd reached the staircase. Only then had he beckoned to Cloud, quietly and dispassionately.

He'd sort of stared back at Reno, a blank look in his eyes, as if he were trying to remember how to count to five. With bewildered reluctance, he had walked over and stopped short of him, Tifa unsurely staying by the stairs. Though she was in the corner of his eye, he didn't acknowledge her.

When he'd seen the absence of that dull and pensive look that had always dwelled in Cloud's eyes, Reno burned with certain irony, knowing he wouldn't be smiling very much longer. The thought of seeing how happy he was with his new girlfriend had previously made him insecure, but now it had solidified his resolve. He couldn't have hated him more.

But he'd kept those feelings at bay, made sure they weren't evident in anything he'd said or did. He'd realized he had been standing there and silently loathing Cloud's miserable existence, so he went ahead and spoke in a hushed tone, so Tifa would not hear.

Reno had simply said there was a "new development" in their assignment that he'd just been contacted about, and he needed to "talk it over" with him... in a private place.

The whole thing had been so poorly explained last night that Reno had to figure everything out by himself, including getting alone with Cloud long enough to kill him, then leave without his girlfriend knowing.

Cloud had seemed a bit confused, and looked over at her. "What about Tifa?"

Reno had just stared straight ahead, wary of her in the corner of his vision, and swallowed hard, suddenly realizing how dry his throat was.

He'd blinked once, thinking quickly. "...this doesn't involve her."

At this Cloud had looked even more bewildered, but with much hesitance, he'd agreed to meet up with him in the Nibel mountains(Reno had yet to decide where, exactly).

Not wasting another moment in Cloud's presence, he had turned and walked to the staircase. He'd callously brushed past Tifa, allowing himself a split-second glance at her. Regretfully, she'd been watching him at that very moment, but all her eyes met were cold glass, empty and distant. The angle of light from the window went far into her warm brown irises, bringing out red flecks in them, and she looked so concerned; perfect and innocent as ever.

His heart rate had risen again, completely out of his control, and he couldn't help this other feeling, like a cold knife deep into his gut, as he'd remembered her crying again... her eyes brimming with tears, with such undeserved grief -- the same in kind that had once wracked her body, that had just shot up his spine.

*~*~*~*~* 

And now here he was, on some precipice he'd reached by following the meandering mountain trails, lying in wait.

He had nothing to look at save for the dreary view ahead of him: the hopelessly overcast sky and the sharp leaden mountain tops jutting out of the smoky mist. He wasn't sure how high he was up from the ground.

Reno sat with ill posture, leaning his back against the craggy rock behind him with his legs drawn up. His knees poked through the fabric of his pants, the cuffs of which hung loosely around his black boots, fraying a little at the heel. The wrinkled button-down shirt he wore wasn't in any better condition.

He wasn't dressed anything like a Turk; you couldn't even tell he was one. There was such irony in the navy, black and white, no matter what professionalism and culture it stood for. But he felt it had become a part of him, and it was for this reason that he couldn't back out... it would be like denying some part of himself.

It was cold up here. Reno wore his heavy jacket, but not because he'd anticipated the weather... it was to hide the gun he'd brought. It had been too easy getting hold of one; it wasn't hard to find a gun in any town.

Right now, all he could do was wait. He shifted against the jagged rock that dug into his back, discomfort between his shoulder blades. Occasionally he would close his eyes for long moments at a time, partly so he wouldn't have to watch the dreary view ahead of him, partly because he was gathering his senses, but mostly he did this because he was so tired. His situation always kept him from drifting off -- the hard rock poking his back and the bulge of the gun under his jacket kept him from straying too far from reality.

Bowing his head to a sudden bitter wind, his gaze fell over the edge of the cliff. Between fluttering strands of hair he could see Cloud coming up the path, far below. He stopped, searched around and above him until he saw Reno, then scrambled up a nearby trail, out of sight again.

Reno slumped back against the uneven stone behind him, exhaling with relief he wouldn't acknowledge. He'd come... without his girlfriend, _or_ his sword.

He became suddenly very conscious of his heartbeat; how hard it pumped and how loud it felt in his ears. He was nervous, but it was exactly what he would need to get through this.

He sat still, knowing it would be any minute now, letting the time slip past him, his nerves grating, his heart beating more urgently. He could hear the heavy footfalls coming closer, and soon enough, the displaced air filling his ears. Cloud was standing right there. Reno stood up and turned to face him in a fluid motion.

"Well...?" Cloud inquired, breathing a little heavily. "What is it?"

Realizing how cramped he was from sitting badly for so long, Reno stretched his aching muscles, massaged the back of his neck. He was obviously in no rush. "First off," he said, arching his back, "I'd like to congratulate you on your new-found relationship with Tifa. I'm truly happy for the both of you." Then he grinned, something he hadn't done in entirely too long. His eyes betrayed his smile, as they feigned any real mirth; his expression was sardonic in the most bitter sense. "I'll have to remind myself to send you a fruit basket--"

"Cut it out." Cloud wasn't stupid enough not to detect his sarcasm. Unlike Reno, he was anxious to get their conversation over with. "Now just tell me what the new plan is."

His grin dissolved, and he held a grave, almost spiteful look in his narrowed eyes. "Alright," he said at length, and whirled around so that his ponytail slapped his right shoulder, and he began to pace.

"You see," Reno began, carefully pulling words out of the air, feeling the familiar bump of his nightstick against his thigh with every stride, "It's not so much a 'new plan' as it is a... modification of sorts." He abruptly stopped and looked to Cloud intently, watching for some reaction.

Cloud shrugged a shoulder, impatient and slightly annoyed with how he was acting. "Okay..." He trailed off, waiting for him to say more.

Reno blinked, deciding this would not do. He figured he was being too indirect -- he would need to be more candid. But at the same time he didn't want to just let the cat out of the bag altogether... he would try to break it to him slowly, and hopefully Cloud would catch on.

He continued his restless pacing. "Well, when a nice big company, such as -- oh, say, the one we _work for_ -- gets such wide support and it's in such a position of authority, when it has leverage over so many things... you can't expect them _not_ to become, erm... a little crooked..... and maybe they wanna get rid of anyone who might stand in their way... at any cost..."

"...huh?"

"I guess... maybe Shinra isn't gone in the way everyone would like to think. Maybe--"

Cloud interrupted him, his frustration set off by Reno's odd behavior. "Quit beating around the bush!" he nearly yelled. "What are you _getting at_?"

Reno stopped pacing and cast his gaze toward him again, suddenly looking tired, sick of dancing around the issue himself. So he told him what he'd been getting at, and he said it with flat malice, punctuating a certain word so he got the picture crystal clear:

"They want you _dead_, Cloud."

Again came that bitter wind to whip around them, so harsh and loud in their ears... interrupting what should have been a drawn out silence, initial shock settling in for Cloud. It passed almost almost as quickly as it came, leaving Reno's hair hanging in front of his face. He arrogantly swept it out of his eyes, wearing an expression of something like mock tragedy.

"Just thought you'd wanna know about it before you... y'know, kick the bucket."

Cloud seemed to still be in a stunned sort of trance. "Wait... I can't die..."

Reno just shrugged, drawing his mouth out in a wry line, trying not to think, knowing it would somehow be his downfall. "Orders are orders," he said, taking a step forward as he pulled out his gun.

Before he knew it, Cloud had slammed into him, knocking the wind out of him and the weapon from his hand. He heard it hit solid rock with a clatter as he could vaguely see a gloved fist coming at his face; it connected, knocking him backwards in sudden pain.

It happened too fast, he'd been caught off-guard. He was supposed to be feeding off the adrenaline rush, not letting his nerves get to him like they did. But he wasn't about to go down just yet, he couldn't give up. He leaned forward to catch his breath, a hand on one knee and the other surreptitiously gripping his nightstick. He could see Cloud ahead of him in a ready stance.

"I don't want to have to fight you," he said.

The bitter-metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, and Reno turned his head and spat it out, not bothering to look at Cloud. "I don't have a choice, _do_ I? Running away is no longer an option... and I'm not screwin' around this time."

He could see Cloud coming at him again, but this time he was ready. Right when he came close enough, Reno jabbed the tip of the nightstick into his torso and pressed the button. He shut his eyes, hearing the pulsing electric crackle that shook the rod as he gripped it, feeling the silvery heat from where he was.

Opening his eyes again, he could see Cloud crumpling to the ground, stunned and unable to move. Reno stood over the man at his feet triumphantly, slinging his nightstick over his shoulder with the same smoothness a Turk would, with that skulking sort of pride. His eyes dimmed as he remembered his hatred, and his moment of domination got the better of him.

He kicked him in the side. "What's the matter, Cloud?" he jeered sadistically. "Can't fight back anymore, can you?" He kicked him again, this time in the ribs, as hard as he could. His voice lowered, taking on a more scolding tone, though he was still mocking. "You brought that on yourself. Shouldn't have tried to resist."

He was empowered by the moment, he'd overcome his doubt and gone back to being the Turk he was supposed to be, indifferent to others' pain. _That's how it's always been, that's the motto of a Turk... I'll live at the expense of your own_. But in the same way he became embittered because he hated who he'd become -- he didn't _care_ about anyone else's woes.

Remembering he wasn't going to stay immobile forever, Reno went to find the gun, and quickly came back to where Cloud lay, still too stunned to move or speak.

"You're so damn _pathetic_," he muttered. "What a way for a _hero_ to go..." He stood over him and pointed the gun at his head, hearing it click, and the memories pressed themselves.

So many times he'd done this... so many times, under the dim artificial light, in the worst part of night when it felt like it would last forever and the shadows would follow him home. In Midgar, where compassion couldn't be found, innocence was long lost and there were no answers for contentions. There was always that lull, after he'd taken a life, when it became quieter than silence itself, and perfect irony would make itself known.

_You think I'm just a cold-blooded killer, that I'm apathetic to what I'm doing to you. But don't think _I_ don't wonder... don't think I don't know that someday I'll die by the same sword_.

It was then that Reno came to realize... he'd been had.

Shinra had led him to be their assassin, their professional fool, to sow nightmares for the ill-fated legacy that was doomed from the start; they had led him into this without telling him of any repercussions. It changed him, he was never the same again. The company collapsed, as it deserved to... but it left him here, as his unknowing punishment, it left him to bear these scars alone.

So this was how it was fated? So he was still here to see the work of his hands? If this "elite" was who he was and always would be, what would be the use in denying it? What would it matter what he did, anymore? There was nothing for him to gain and nothing to lose.

He hated it, he'd been fooled. And it was happening all over again. Here he stood, holding a gun to someone's head, someone whose life had been torn up by Shinra, with much of the same bad memories of the city and the same nightmare in his veins; someone whose loved ones and hopes and dreams had been wasted... someone just as broken.

Reno still stood over him, still holding on to the gun, blind up until that moment to how much his hand was trembling. The long seconds were falling past, his grip was loosening under disloyal fingers, he couldn't squeeze the trigger no matter how many times he told himself to. He wasn't.... he couldn't do it.

He couldn't do it.

Reno jerked back, stepped away from Cloud, shaking his head. _I can't_... he dropped the gun, causing it to go off in the direction away from them, making him jump. As the echoes of the shot died away he swallowed hard and looked over everything, realizing what he'd just done, and rounded the path to the other side of the mountain. He stood condemned in his own eyes, a coward, fleeing from his own failed mission.

..._I'll never play the hand I'm dealt_.

Suddenly he became annoyed with his nightstick, with the way it kept slapping against his upper leg. It was no longer a source of comfort but a reminder of his shameful past. On a whim he pulled it out of its holster and threw it as far as he could, his heart lurching as he watched some part of him fast retreating. 

_There_...! A gift for the wind.

He tore down the trail, as fast and hard as possible in his condition, to get away from what he didn't want to believe he'd done. Making a different turn at a fork in the path, he didn't know where he was going but he knew it wouldn't be back to Nibelheim.

He ran until he couldn't keep going. Out of breath, he stopped and leaned back against the mountain side, where he was almost able to see where the Nibel mountains ended. He shut his eyes to it and his trepidation, slid down until he was nearly sitting.

Reno didn't know what to do now, he had just denied himself the terrible unrest he was doomed to, he wasn't even sure where he was going. He was so cold, he hadn't eaten anything in so long, and he was so tired. More than anything he wanted sleep... merciful, _dreamless_ sleep.

And at hand was all this guilt, these horrible transgressions weighing him down, and he couldn't bear it. He wanted to rid himself of it, he would cast it off if he could. But were was the hope to redeem himself? With with how Shinra left no one untouched, he was the last who deserved peace.

Reno heaved a shaky sigh and hid his face in his hands. He'd fallen apart, he feared he had gone insane. Who was he then, if not a Turk? That was no longer where his allegiance laid, and yet he felt he couldn't just drop the name; he was nothing else. His comrades, he worried for them and at the same time envied their ignorance. He felt like his fury was going to take over. What was to keep him from becoming embittered, indignant at this miserable and graceless world that had snubbed him? How could he go on, hating who he'd become?

It was in this moment of abject surrender that he felt a trace of warmth across his hand. Incredulous, he brought them from his face and looked up to see the graphite sky breaking, the first rays of sun he'd seen in too long, dappling the view ahead of him soft and golden. It was a curious feeling, of hope filling him up, as the shafts of light came down on even him, strangely fated. Calmness settled his heart, his troubles somehow humbled within him as he thought after all that there might be some grace in this world...

And so he was not consumed.

*~*~*~*~* 

Tifa broke into a run as soon as she'd heard a gun go off, following through the main path because she wasn't sure where exactly it had come from. She didn't know what was happening, or if Cloud or Reno were hurt. The very prospect of not knowing was the most unsettling one for her.

Growing more frantic by the second, she tried searching every crevice of every mountain she passed by, straining to see through the mist. Minutes later, she'd seen no sign of either of them. She eventually slowed her walking, fatigued and discouraged.

But then she saw a silhouette of someone reach the foot of a mountain trail, then stop and lean heavily against the side. Without another thought she approached them, and started running again when she could confirm who it was.

"Cloud!" she cried as she reached him, flooding with relief.

He grunted, tried to stand by himself. "Tifa..."

"Oh Cloud," she murmured as she carefully put her arms around his shoulders and rested her head in the crook of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned in to keep his balance, despite his head that ached and his ribcage that flared with pain. "What happened? Where's Reno?"

They parted slightly so he could look down at her, and he shook his head, blinking away the worst of the dull throbbing. "I don't know," he said sincerely. Then he sighed, looking bemused and troubled. "...I got a lot to tell you. But let's go back first."

Seeing the tired urgency in his eyes, she didn't object.

They walked side by side, keeping an arm around each other so Cloud could walk better. The sun could be seen peering through the clouds, cutting through the fog for the first time in so long. After they'd gone a ways down, something sharply bright caught the very corner of Tifa's vision.

"What's that?" she wondered aloud. Sparking Cloud's interest, he looked too, but they couldn't tell from where they were. Carefully they moved off to the side of the path, until they were close enough to see.

It was a nightstick.

  


~The End~

  
  


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Author's Note: ...and so that concludes Strife. Man, it's been a year of ups and downs. Some days I'd feel mighty fine about it, others I wouldn't want to even look at it, and I'd just question my ability and think I was too young to pull this off effectively. But now that it's over with, it's a bit rough around the edges in some places, but I guess it's not so bad.

So what exactly was my inspiration for this? I'm not quite sure, I was pretty bored when it hit me, but it might have had something to do with a certain Bible verse I'd read. And also in part because I wanted to portray Reno in a slightly different light. You know all those angst vignettes about him -- those things hardly end on a lighter or more hopeful note! Poor guy... more times than not I'd see them end with him bitterly accepting how his life turned out, and he continues to wallow in this state of mind that's... not nice to have all the time. And many of them are so beautifully written, but afterward they just wouldn't sit well with me. I did make him angsty, but I didn't leave him all bitter and angry and inconclusive.

So I guess next up for me is that Reno/Tifa multi-part that's been floating around in my head the past half year. But can I have a little break? I'm creatively burned out. I'm complete, finished, there's no more air left in the pressure cooker. I'm DONE!

And to all those who reviewed... I could just HUG you. Special thanks to kimetara, who beta-read this fic, but since I don't send the author's note with the first copy to her, I doubt she'll see this. Oh well! Please press that pretty button... just one more time...... 


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